Hawthorne Press Tribune
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Northrop Grumman Foundation Supports
Cousteau’s EarthEcho Expedition
This year, thanks to support from the Northrop Grumman Foundation, EarthEcho will, for the first time, include U.S. based middle school teachers in an exploration of water scarcity in Southern California
alongside Philippe Cousteau, Jr. and the EarthEcho Expeditions team. Since 2013, EarthEcho Expeditions have leveraged the rich Cousteau legacy of exploration and discovery to bring science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) education alive for today’s 21st Century learners and their educators. Photo Credit: EarthEcho
Wiseburn School Board Meets Prior to
Opening Day on Campuses
See School Board page 8
By Duane Plank
Last Wednesday’s meeting of the
Wiseburn School Board was bereft of special
presentations---which is standard for the final
meeting prior to start-up of a new school
year. The first day of classes kicked off this
week on Wednesday morning.
As the construction continues at the new high
school facility on Douglas Street, Wiseburn
Unified School District Superintendent Tom
Johnstone, who will be retiring at the end of
the school year, said, “If we maintain urgency,
if we get in before the end of October, it isn’t
that big of a deal.” Johnstone said he was
“pushing more” to have the students inhabit
the new site at the end of September, but
added, “I don’t think that is going to happen.”
Johnstone noted two key areas at the
construction site that must be completed. “One
of them is the atrium,” he said. He mentioned
welding issues that still needed to be dialed in,
as well as the “cement treatment to the parking
lot.” Johnstone said that there were ongoing
negotiations with the company scheduled to
work on the parking lot treatment, noting
that the contractor had initially proposed a
square-foot cement treatment bid that was, in
Johnstone’s opinion, out of line. Negotiations
are ongoing, he said.
The Superintendent said that most of the
challenges at the construction site had been
resolved, but “when you have that many
workers in the building,” coordination between
all the working parts becomes challenging.
He added that the couple-month delay will
be worth the wait and that when the students,
faculty and administrators do relocate to
Douglas Street, they will be “moving into
a world-class high school that looks more
like a college.”
During his comments Wednesday night,
Johnstone lauded Aileen Harbeck, Director
of Ed Services, one of the administrators
who has been working with the two new
District principals to get them “up-to-speed”
in preparation for the new school year.
Johnstone praised Harbeck, saying that both
new principals would be able to start the year
“at full speed, in terms of the operations,
curriculum-wise.”
One of the two new elementary school
principals, Lisa Baggio, taking over at Juan
Cabrillo, said, “I am both honored and excited
to begin the school year this Wednesday, It
has been a busy two weeks that consisted of
meeting with staff, completing kindergarten
orientation and enrolling students into classes.
I have enjoyed every moment of it. I cannot
wait to meet the students and families.” Kim
Jones is the other new elementary school
principal, beginning her tenure this week at
Peter Burnett Elementary.
Upcoming District events include Thursday’s
welcome back barbecue. The first two days
that the students headed to the classroom, what
are termed “super-minimum days,” resulted
in them being dismissed at 11:45, with the
teachers and support personnel gearing up for
the next nine months of instruction.
The 60-minute meeting, gaveled in by
Board President Israel Mora, also included
approval of multiple change orders for the
new construction project. Board member
report comments included Vice President
JoAnne Kaneda commenting on how well
the District maintenance field projects were
progressing during the ramp-up to the first
day of school. Also mentioned was the fact
that the Galaxy youth soccer club team had
seemingly taken over “all of the fields” in
Wiseburn in the last couple of months. The
Galaxy club soccer program had recently had
their field time limited in the neighboring city
of El Segundo because of concerns raised
by the El Segundo-based Strikers club about
field usage and residency requirements to use
the limited field space in these South Bay
communities.
Kaneda addressed the apparently new surge
in field usage by the Galaxy group. “How
does this happen, that nobody in this room
knows about this?” she asked. Mora said,
“Somebody needs to find out about this--let’s
research this.” Field usage is an issue that
tends to arise with limited space available in
most South Bay cities.
Mora, in his comments, warned about traffic
issues that will arise during the first week of
school, as campuses that have been basically
uninhabited for the past 75 or so days spring
back to a beehive of activity. He also opined
on the high school construction, saying that
while it was “sad that it will be delayed, at
the same time we want a nice, perfect finished
product. It’s a beautiful building.”
Deputy Superintendent Chris Jones also
made his comments, including that he was
working closely with the new principals on
their budgets, and that he was closing the
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Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
90˚/75˚
Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
87˚/73˚
Sunday
Sunny
85˚/73˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne