Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 61, No. 5 - January 31, 2019 Inside This Issue Calendar of Events.............3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................6 Classifieds............................3 Entertainment......................2 Food.......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Lawndale..............................4 Legals................................ 4-6 Pets........................................8 Weekend Forecast Friday Cloudy 61˚/56˚ Saturday Rain 59˚/50˚ Sunday PM Showers 58˚/51˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne Hawthorne Welcomes New Chief Wiseburn Board Covers Much Ground Despite Brief Meeting By Duane Plank Bereft of special presentations, last Thursday evening’s meeting of the Wiseburn School Board may have set a meeting record for brevity, with President JoAnne Kaneda calling the open-session to a close at the 30-minute mark. As is the norm, Board member and administration reports were near the top of the agenda. Dr. Neil Goldman noted that he had met with the teaching and learning advisory council to begin the Wiseburn Unified School District’s strategic planning process. “We spent four hours together and it went well,” he said. “The group was engaged.” Goldman added that “it was really fun to have representatives from every school site intermingling and deliberating what the big pillar contributions, the value-drivers” would be. He mentioned that meetings will be held with different constituent stakeholders that will hopefully align all concerned, implementing their vision for the District. Wiseburn is in the beginning process of developing the extensive strategic plan, the implementation being led by Goldman. According to District-provided notes, the plan will involve matching all stakeholders’ interests to “create a vision through their feedback, opinions and ideas.” The idea is for the community outreach to provide a “roadmap” that will assist staff to refine, improve and implement new programs that will support all students to become either college- or career-Ready. Member Nelson Martinez shared that he had recently had the opportunity to attend District sporting events, mentioning the Wiseburn High School soccer and volleyball teams. Vice President/Clerk Roger Banuelos thanked the Dana Middle School staff for hosting a recent special event. Kaneda, in her remarks, commented, “I am both happy and sad that we don’t have a lot of community members here tonight,” which she said she would take away as a positive. “Everything must be going quite well.” She also thanked the gathered Board members and administrators, as well as District staff. “There is a lot to keeping all of our kids educated, our families satisfied, our staff satisfied. I don’t want to take that for granted.” Chief Business Official David Wilson addressed a recent Board member query regarding the District’s expenditures of socalled “one-time revenues,” and how those expenditures are calculated on the financial balance sheet. He summarized recent expenditures and how the District was spending “carryover” available money accrued from past fiscal years. Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services Dr. Aileen Harbeck said that 23 staff members were to participate in a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) training session on Jan. 26, with a follow-up session slated for Feb. 9. Harbeck said the instructors were “on fire” to participate in the training sessions. She added that after the second training session, “we will be able to discern how PLTW will look in our elementary schools.” Wiseburn elementary teachers will participate in the training days to facilitate them in becoming certified PLTW instructors. Grants bestowed by Chevron have allowed local school districts to not only train teachers, but help them guide students in improving in problem-solving skills and critical and creative thinking, as well as bolster their scholastic and outside-the-classroom teamwork and perseverance. “PLTW is such a wonderful program -- I just want all of our students to have the opportunity to be a part of the science-and-technology based program,” Banuelos said. Superintendent Dr. Blake Silvers then reported out, noting his recent excursion to Ontario to participate in the Governor’s preschool services program. “We got good information,” he said, and noted that he and other District personnel had made the Ontario road trip during the recent spate of inclement weather -- but that it was well worth it and provided “bonding time” for Silvers and Wiseburn attendees. Silvers also noted that the Wiseburn High gymnasium was now hosting events and “coming to life.” He said he perused a portion of a recent boys varsity basketball game and that the well-attended event created “energy and a buzz in the room that was incredible.” Added member Israel Mora, “It is a beautiful gym.” Silvers wrapped up his report, stressing how there has been a landscape change in education initiatives in the state and that the District is creating a “slow and steady pathway so that we can make sure that we are addressing the areas that we need to.” Action items were dealt with next, which included construction change orders, service agreements and construction contingency funding as the District churns forward buttoning up details regarding the high school facilities construction. The Board also approved a fiscal action item to add another school crossing guard who will be stationed at the intersection of Isis and 135th. The contract, with All City Management Services, will run until June 13 The Hawthorne City Council unanimously voted to appoint Mike Ishii as the community’s new Police Chief. Photo: Hawthorne PD See Wiseburn, page 8
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