EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 21, 2017 Page 3
September’s Disasters Hold
Lessons for the South Bay
By Rob McCarthy
South Bay residents could be forgiven
for thinking they’ve heard this all before.
Disasters don’t plan ahead, but you can. Yet,
September’s wildfires and Mexico’s strong
earthquake have injected an urgency in the
local readiness campaign, which kicks off
this month against a backdrop of natural
disasters throughout the country.
“The timing is just right,” said spokesman
Ken Kondo with the county’s emergency
management team. “We have our Los Angeles
County Prepareathon--a program that pairs
with FEMA to prepare residents and businesses
for emergencies and disasters [trying]
to get them educated, prepared and trained
before disaster hits.”
The Prepareathon runs from September
through November with public events nearby
in Gardena, Torrance and Long Beach. The
safety fairs and emergency-response training
sessions represent the calm before the
proverbial storm for South Bay communities
that are accustomed to fires, earthquakes and
refinery emergencies.
This year, while FEMA was mobilizing
thousands of responders and relief employees
to the hurricane disaster zones in Texas and
Florida, Los Angeles County was confronting
its own seasonal danger: a wildfire that
started September 1 near Burbank. The La
Tuna Fire burned 7,000 acres and forced
evacuation of 1,400 people while fire crews
fought the blaze. It’s being called the largest
acreage fire in the history of Los Angeles, and
the damage was limited to a few structures
and no lives were lost. One firefighter was
treated for minor burns, according to reports.
Residents were invited last Saturday to communitywide
disaster-readiness expos in Long
Beach and Gardena. They offered a glimpse
of what local households and neighborhoods
can expect, and what they should pack away
in an emergency supply kit. A family of four
needs at least 12 gallons of drinking water,
attendees learned, along with how to purify
containers using a solution of water, bleach
and dish detergent.
The fourth annual event in Long Beach was
a collaboration of Long Beach emergency
agencies, nonprofits, businesses and area
response agencies, including L.A. County’s.
The Gardena event was a second annual
preparedness fair hosted by the Japanese
Cultural Institute. Among the topics discussed
Saturday was how to get neighbors involved
and talking about disasters. One of the simplest
and most direct ways is for individuals to get
first aid-certified and take disaster response
training, according to the L.A. County team.
The first responders in any emergency are
next-door neighbors and people living and
working in a building together.
There is still time to find a seminar or a
responder training session through Los Angeles
County’s campaign. The next nearby
Prepareathon event takes place from 10 a.m.
to 1 p.m. October 27 at the Sunnyside Nursing
Center in Torrance. Evacuation and safety
of older residents in an emergency will be
discussed. This event at 22617 S. Vermont
Avenue is open to the public.
All county-sponsored events this month
and next are built around four themes to
guide proactive South Bay residents, property
owners and caregivers to the homebound
or disabled. An emergency kit with food,
water and medicine is a must-have before
and after a disaster strikes, the federal and
local campaigns stress. When it will happen,
no one can say, according to L.A. County’s
spokesman Kondo. But when the ground
starts shaking, or an evacuation order follows
Herald in Prague
Christopher Nosko, looking cute and standing in front of the St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, has been writing and traveling through
Europe. (Provided by his Proud Auntie Heidi Maerker). •
Wiseburn School Board
Looks Forward to Migration
of Students to Douglas Street
By Duane Plank
Last Thursday evening’s meeting of the
Wiseburn School Board was bereft of special
presentations, which is par for the course
for this time of the school year, according
to District Superintendent Tom Johnstone.
Johnstone, who is entering his final year as
Wiseburn Unified School District Superintendent
and will be retiring in June 2018,
said that “we let the dust settle” during
these first few weeks. He noted that special
Board presentations usually start taking place
at the end of October, and ramp up as the
schoolyear approaches the spring, because
“people want to share everything that they
have done over the year.”
So the Board members, minus Vice President/
Clerk JoAnne Kaneda who was out of
town, dove right into their reports and lauded
the presentation made by District keynote
speaker Travis Allen during the kick-off
presentation the first week of school. Johnstone
also spoke about how the parameters
of education have shifted, noting “how the
world has changed so dramatically and how
information doubles itself every couple of
months, and you can’t teach the way you
did back in 1900 and expect our kids to stay
competitive on a world stage.”
Action items were next on the agenda,
with a resolution honoring the retirement
of Pam Conde, the office manager and head
secretary at Peter Burnett Elementary, topping
the list. Conde will be onsite at Burnett until
September 30. She agreed to stay on for the
first month of the new school year to help
the new principal, Kim Jones.
In her first year at Burnett, Jones appreciates
having an experienced hand to help her
navigate through the first month. “Pam Conde
is the heart of Peter Burnett Elementary
School, “she emailed. “In my short time as
principal, I have seen the commitment and
dedication she provides to the entire school
community. She will be missed by all the
teachers, students and parents she has served
over the last 20 years at Burnett. We wish
her well in her retirement.”
Johnstone was grateful that Conde agreed
to stay on until the end of September, noting
that “to have a new principal and a new secretary
would have been a disaster.” Johnstone
reported that the District is actively searching
for Conde’s replacement. He said that filling
Conde’s spot isn’t easy, but that when they
do find a suitable replacement he hopes that
person will be working in the District for the
next 20 years. “We don’t like to play musical
chairs” with District positions, he said,
noting the lack of turnover of key personnel
at Wiseburn.
Another new principal, Lisa Baggio, who
is now in charge at Juan Cabrillo, is also
settling into her new position. She emailed
that “the first weeks of school have been
busy. We have had our Kindergarten/TEDDE
orientation, the start of rigorous academics
such as CGI and our new English Language
Arts Wonders curriculum. I even found the
runaway gingerbread men from Ms. Schhumacher’s
TEDDE class! I look forward to
more fun learning adventures!”
Other action items tackled by the Board
included an agreement with S.T.A.R, Inc.
involving the District’s GATE program,
agreements with P.S. Arts to provide visual
and performing arts at Anza Elementary, and
renewal for the ninth year of the agreement for
P.S. to provide the District Arts coordinator.
See Wiseburn, page 14
See Disasters, page 15