Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 2, No. 25 - June 18, 2020
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Hawthorne............................3
Huber’s Hiccups..................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals.................................6,7
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
69˚/59˚
Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
69˚/60˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
70˚/60˚
Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
Hawthorne Press Tribune
Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Hawthorne School District Helps
Their Students Stay Healthy
Thank you Hawthorne School District Foodservice Staff for all of your hard work ensuring students receive meals during this time. Photo courtesy HealthyEating.org.
Dr. Jeanie Nishime Helms the ESUSD School
Board During Unprecedented Times
By Duane Plank
When Dr. Jeanie Nishime took over the reins
as the new El Segundo Unified School District
School Board President late last year, the District
was on an upward trajectory. El Segundo voters
had passed a $92-million general obligation
bond in November of 2018, and that funding
was going to be front-and-center as the ESUSD
began accelerating the implementation of its
Long-Range-Facilities-Master Plan
The District was reaping the benefits of
the 2016 sale of the surplus Imperial Street
School which garnered more than $22 million
for District coffers.
Then, the pandemic COVID-19 virus that
would decimate and shut-down much of the
world was nowhere in sight. Then the killer
coronavirus hit America, and the world as we
knew it was thrown into tumult.
Classroom education was shut down in
mid-March, with educators, students, and
parents scrambling to implement distance
learning. Nishime said that the District’s distance
learning program is progressing about
as well as expected, noting that the ESUSD
had presciently implemented a 1-to-1 iPad
initiative at both the high school and middle
school as introducing Chromebooks at the
elementary level. All this made it easier for
the ESUSD to hit the ground running when
the mandated shelter in place orders came
down from Sacramento. With many teachers,
students, parents, and administrators educating
on the run, Nishime said the District would be
implementing “changes for the fall to address
the deficiencies we experienced this spring.”
Nishime has been an El Segundo resident
since 2007. Her more than 30 years in education,
mainly at the community college level,
included stints at Fullerton, Riverside and
Pasadena city colleges. She also served for
ten years as the vice president for student and
community advancement at El Camino College.
Nishime, born and raised in Japan, received
a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Point
Loma College in San Diego, Master of Science
in counseling from Cal State Long Beach,
and Ed. D in institutional management from
Pepperdine University.
She said she was encouraged to run for an
open seat on the El Segundo school board
in 2011 by Dr. Ray Gen, who was on the El
Camino school board at the time and is currently
the English department chair at El Segundo
High School. Nishime did not know what
she was signing up for. “I was so naïve,” she
said but figured that with a lessened commute
time with her landing the El Camino job, she
had more time to give back to the El Segundo
community. Nishime said that her previous
jobs involved arduous, time-consuming commutes.
“When I first moved (to El Segundo),
it was the first time that I lived and worked in
the same community.” Husband Spence Bauer
served as her campaign manager, and Nishime
became immersed in political campaigning,
seeking resident endorsements, knocking on
voters’ doors, and distributing lawn signs. Six
weeks later, she was elected to a four-year term
on the ESUSD school board.
The school board has been meeting virtually
since mid-March, which, Nishime said, has
worked out well, considering the circumstances.
She said she has heard “horror stories” from
other South Bay school board presidents about
tech glitches that have plagued their meetings,
but the ESUSD has been able, for the most
part, to navigate the technology highway. She
said that she misses the “comradeship” of seeing
her fellow board members in person, and
laments that the final graduation and promotion
ceremonies that she will attend as a member
of the ESUSD will have to take place in a
virtual format.
Nishime said that now more than ever, the
District is steadfast in adhering to accomplishing
their goals for the upcoming school years.
Those goals include ensuring high-quality
learning; promoting the social well-being of all
students; recruiting and retaining high-quality
employees; promoting parental and community
engagement; and maintaining fiscal health while
focusing on school safety.
Those goals, Nishime said, “have taken-on
new a whole new meeting in light of this pandemic,”
noting an expected 3-million dollar hit
to the District budget for the next school year.
ESUSD Superintendent Dr. Melissa Moore
touts the leadership of Nishime, emailing
that Nishime “possessed not only a wealth of
educational knowledge and expertise but also
her thoughtful consideration in examining
the issues. Her intelligence, compassion, and
pragmatic approach have contributed to the
school district’s tremendous success with student
achievement and social-emotional well-being
of students during her tenure.”
See Dr. Jeanie Nishime, page 7
Dr. Jeanie Nishime