As summer winds down, the Hermosa schools are gearing up with renovations to their multi-purpose rooms so they can be used as classrooms this fall. A large third grade at Hermosa Valley and the move to full-day kindergarten at Hermosa View has prompted the conversion of the multi-purpose rooms to classroom space – and so has the state budget crunch.
The state of California typically transfers education money to school districts every month. The financial shortfall in Sacramento, however, has meant that the state is deferring payments to school districts until next year, said Business Manager Angela Jones.
Jones said the school district had the option of taking a loan out from a financial institution to add classrooms but decided against it because it wouldn’t have been financially prudent.
Waiting on the state isn’t new for Hermosa schools. The district had $1.7 million for 2010-2011 deferred until the 2011-12 school year, Jones said. And the district will have to wait until next year for a chunk of this year’s money.
The Hermosa Beach City School District Board of Education anticipated the deferrals from the state and earlier this summer passed a resolution allowing school officials to borrow from different district funds to cover the payroll shortfall, which has meant that money couldn’t be spent on modular classrooms as school officials would have liked.
“Those funds in a perfect year would help us add classrooms,” Jones said. “But because we need these monies to float us until the state comes up with the money that’s owed to us, we’ll have to borrow from other funds.”
So a wall is being constructed in the multi-purpose room at Hermosa View School in order to create a kindergarten classroom, said Hermosa View Principal Sylvia Gluck.
The multi-purpose room at Hermosa View for the last few years has been a computer lab, and the computer lab will remain in the other half of the refurbished multi-purpose room. Both rooms will be of equal size.
The reason for an extra section of kindergarten is the demand for full-day kindergarten, Gluck said.
Last year, Hermosa View operated four full-day kindergarten classes and two half-day classes. But during registration school officials polled parents who overwhelmingly said they prefer full-day kindergarten, from 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m., Gluck said.
With two half-day kindergarten classes last year, teachers were able to share a classroom. By going with six full-day sections of kindergarten, another classroom was needed, Gluck said.
Gluck said most preschool programs are full-day, so the transition to full-day kindergarten is typically seamless for children.
“We’re really excited about having full day kindergarten at Hermosa view, so every student will be on the same schedule in the kindergarten this year,” Gluck said.
At Hermosa Valley, Principal Kim Taylor said a large incoming third grade needed another classroom. Last year, the school had six sections of third grade. This year, there are seven sections.
Taylor said two third grade classrooms will use the multi-purpose room, and that the teachers preferred not to separate their classes with a wall.
“We thought about doing the traditional thing of making a big wall and creating two classrooms and calling it a day,” Taylor said. “The teachers decided they wanted to develop a larger space for learning. They’ve been working on it all summer. We’re trying to be as supportive and innovative as we can.”
The assemblies held in the Hermosa Valley multi-purpose room will now be held in the gym, Taylor said.
The student population in the Hermosa schools is increasing as the state contributions are decreasing. While 118 eighth-graders graduated last year, 152 children have enrolled in kindergarten for this coming school year.
Superintendent Pat Escalante said that teachers, custodians and administrators have pulled together to make the conversion of the multi-purpose rooms go smoothly. Escalante credited the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation and Parent Teacher Organization for making their $766,501 donation to the district early enough to allow for planning for the next school year.
“Everybody has come together,” Escalante said.
