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Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - August 3, 2017 SpaceX Wins Big in Aerospace Summer Games 2017 Hawthorne-based SpaceX (team members shown celebrating after the event) was the winner of the Aerospace Summer Games 2017 that took place on Saturday, July 29 at Dockweiler Beach’s Lifeguard Tower 58. The day of fun and friendly competition featured participants from more than two dozen area aerospace companies competing in events ranging from volleyball to balloon tossing. Photo Credit: Vera Mulyani, SpacePortLA.com Wiseburn School Board Informed Opening Day at New High School Delayed Until Fall Free Digital Delivery Herald Publications is now offering to send you a link to your favorite community newspaper every Friday! The emails will also include a list of upcoming local events. Just email us at: dd@heraldpublications.com and tell us which local community newspaper you’d like. Simple as that and free!!! By Duane Plank With less than a month remaining before the scheduled opening day at the newly constructed Wiseburn High School located on Douglas Street, the Wiseburn Unified District (WUSD) School Board Trustees met last Tuesday evening to tackle myriad construction issues as the multi-million-dollar project steams ahead. The Board also heard the news that the new tentative opening day of school at the new building, which will play host to three Da Vinci high schools as well as the District offices, has been delayed and is now penciled in, said WUSD Superintendent Tom Johnstone, for October. It was hoped that the new high school would open its doors to Da Vinci charter school students on August 22, but inevitable delays have disrupted the start-up date. Da Vinci students will start their school year at their current locations in late August, and then relocate to the new Douglas Street edifice, if all goes well, in October. Johnstone said that construction delays on the project, which began in August of 2015, are not uncommon on challenges of this magnitude. Johnstone said that the “delivery date” to occupy the building was initially July 23. That date has obviously come and gone. Johnstone said that there were two main issues causing the delay. Gould Electric, the initial electric company bid-winner for the project, had defaulted earlier in the construction cycle. RDM was selected to replace Gould, and while Johnstone said RDM was “doing a great job, there are little things the contractor found that don’t really affect electricity, but do impact what is termed in the construction trade as “fire/life/ safety.” The fire/life/safety concerns must meet and adhere to strict guidelines established by the Division of State Architects (DSA). These issues revolve around student and staff safety concerns, and “those construction, protection, and occupancy features necessary to minimize danger to life from the effects of fire, including smoke, heat, and toxic gases created during a fire.” Johnstone laid out what is a tentative timeline for the occupancy of the building, with the hope being that when all the Is are dotted and Ts crossed, the three Da Vinci campuses would have their classroom materials packed up and be able to vacate their current buildings probably over a weekend. After the physical move has been made, Johnstone foresees allowing the teachers a couple of days to unpack and set up their classrooms before opening the new high school’s doors to incoming students. “We live in an imperfect world,” Johnstone said. “We have really been blessed on this project. Everything is going to turn out beautifully…it is just five or six weeks later than we wanted it.” WUSD District Facility planner Vince Madsen, See School Board page 8 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................7 Classifieds............................3 Community Briefs...............2 Entertainment......................4 Legals................................ 6-7 Pets........................................5 Police Reports.....................3 Seniors..................................2 Sports....................................8 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 78˚/69˚ Saturday Sunny 79˚/68˚ Sunday Sunny 76˚/67˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne


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