Unprecedented budget cuts and increasing education mandates set the course for the state’s schools over the past decade, and the Beach Cities’ three school districts were no exception. Two districts saw the highly publicized resignations of superintendents, while another endured a lengthy quarrel over a school gymnasium. The school districts of Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo beaches continue to forge ahead, planning for excellence in the face of a future that remains more uncertain for education than ever.
Redondo Beach Unified
Up until an October night in 2006 when Redondo Beach Unified School District Superintendent Steven Keller took the Redondo Union football field dressed as the school’s mascot “Sammy the Seahawk,” not much laughing had gone on in the district for most of the decade.
The district was in an already dyspeptic climate when it endured severe budget cuts in 2003 and 2004 after the state slashed educational funding.
In 2002, teachers had stormed a school board meeting, angrily delivering a “no confidence” vote in RBUSD Superintendent Bill Nunan, whose firing of a popular teacher at Parras Middle School teacher inflamed community anger, including a two-day student protest.
A grassroots coalition – led by parents and backed by the teacher’s union – rose up against Nunan’s administration. In 2003, Nunan resigned in tears at the same board meeting at which three new board members – all from the coalition — were swept into office after a bitter election. Carol Leighty was hired as Nunan’s successor, but resigned two years later amidst ongoing labor tension. A district that had once had a proud reputation for its academic achievement as well as its “Sea Hawk” pride had become known more for the way it chewed up and spit out superintendents.
When Keller was hired as superintendent in 2006, school board trustee Todd Loewenstein said it was like a gust of fresh air had just blown through musty Old Redondo.
“How many superintendents do you know who would dress up as Sammy the Sea Hawk?” asked Loewenstein. “How many people do you know that would actually do that? I think it endears him to people, especially the kids. Make no mistake, there is certainly a strong element of professionalism in what he has brought to our district. But there is also an element of fun in this district now.”
Keller launched a “Good to Great” district motto, a revamped professional development program for teachers, replaced more than a dozen administrators and established the district’s own newspaper. The district’s Academic Performance Index scores have increased from an average of 828 in 2006 to 868 this year. A $145 million bond that Keller pushed through in 2008 — $95 million of which is allotted for Redondo Union High School reconstruction — has so far resulted in a new aquatics center, new student services building, new gym and a refurbished football field at RUHS.
Manhattan Beach Unified
Fiscal crisis, a high school reconstruction mess and a multi-million dollar lawsuit marked a turbulent start of the decade for Manhattan Beach Unified School District.
Residents became outraged as construction lagged on a 2000 bond measure to modernize Mira Costa High School, a project that was never fully completed and about which the board’s conduct in its allocation of more than $70 million was called “inexcusable” in a 2004 oversight report.
Superintendent Jerry Davis took fire for the mismanagement of the funds. In 2003, he resigned, citing health problems. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to felony charges filed by the district attorney for misusing public funds by billing the district for more than $56,000 for personal expenses during six of his 14 years employed there.
“If there was a wrong, I’d want to right it. If it doesn’t match the test of what was legal I would reimburse,” said during the investigation. “In my heart, I know I was fair.”
By the time Gwen Gross from Beverly Hills Unified School District was hired as Davis’ replacement, district finances had become so dire, she immediately cut $5 million from its budget.
“Out of that, people realized we need to start shifting as parents from thinking about just our own schools to the greater good of the ‘K’ through 12 system,” said Carolyn Seaton, executive director of Educational Services.
The Manhattan Beach Education Foundation collected $404,314 in donations in 2002 and $1.9 million the following year. This year, MBEF raised $4.4 million that will go toward grants to help fund core academics and keep class sizes low.
In 2002, the district was accused by the family of an autistic student of not providing a “free and appropriate education” as mandated by the federal government, which led to the high-profile precedent-setting “Porter case.” The case was settled in 2005 in favor of the plaintiff who was awarded $6.7 million, $1.1 million of which the district was ordered to pay.
When Gross left the district in 2006, Bev Rohrer stepped in as interim superintendent — temporarily at first, until the district asked her to stay longer. Rohrer retired from a 50-year career in education last June when the district hired Dr. Michael Matthews from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to take over MBUSD’s reins.
Budget cuts have permanently wiped $5.5 million from the district’s now $50 million budget, according to assistant superintendent of Student Services Steve Romines.
“We’re a long way from being out of the woods” he said.
This year, MBUSD joined the Los Angeles Unified School District in a lawsuit against the governor for vetoing funding toward special education. Officials estimate the cuts could cost the district $800,000 a year.
MBUSD students moved up to third in the state in their district wide Academic Performance Index scores, after years of being ranked fifth.
The district also continues to move forward on Measure BB reconstruction of Costa, which should begin next year.
Hermosa Beach Unified
In Hermosa, the decade was marked by conflict between the tiny school district and community members who strenuously opposed construction of a $10.8 million gymnasium-library-classroom building at one of its two campuses.
Neighbors feared noise and parking problems from the gym at Hermosa Valley School, and critics called the project a waste of money. After much heated discussion and a lawsuit failed to halt the gym project, ground was broken in the middle of the decade.
The gym opened to expansive praise from educators, supporters and area politicians, but it would haunt the school board for the rest of the decade.
Hermosa voters had approved a bond measure that helped construct the gym building, but afterward, educators asked for another bond measure and then a parcel tax to help fund the cash-strapped schools, and voters slapped them down.
The parcel tax, Measure E, failed by 53 to 47 percent in 2008, falling 20 percentage points short of the two-thirds majority required for passage. Critics of the gym were among the vocal opponents of the measure, and many observers believed that animosity over the gym had played a key role in the swing of public opinion.
“The community has spoken,” said Measure E opponent Linda Igo. “The voters have made a statement for the second time in two years that they are paying attention and do not approve of the way the district is spending their money.”
Seeking to heal the rift, and to find funding solutions for a K-8 school district that sees 10 percent of its operating budget covered by volunteer fundraisers, Hermosa Councilmen Kit Bobko and Michael DiVirgilio helped spearhead Project Forward, a special committee composed partly of educators and community members.
Project Forward made strides in improving communication between opposing factions, but was unable to find ongoing funding sources for the schools.
As the decade drew to a close, a strategic planning committee was looking at all facets of the school district’s future, even studying the possibility of merging with a neighboring school district.
In 2010 committee members met with the superintendents of the other two beach cities school districts to gather information on the possibility of a merger, although they stressed the preliminary nature of their study. ER
