Hermosa schools hold steady, scores, fundraising on rise
by Kevin Cody
Four years ago, Stephen McCall was appointed to the Hermosa Beach School Board because he was the only challenger to seek election. This past November, when McCall decided not to seek reelection, retired Hermosa Beach school teacher Catherine Barrow was the only challenger. As a result she too was appointed, without undergoing the gauntlet of an election.
The absence of challengers could be attributed to apathetic parents. But pleased parents is a more probable explanation.
“We saw other communities torn apart during COVID, and we didn’t have to look far. But Hermosa is a special place. We prioritized what was important. We worked together, and became one of the first school districts in the state to bring kids back on campus,” Superintendent Jason Johnson said in October, during his State of the School address at the newly remodeled third and fourth grade View School. The remodel was made possible by the 2016, super majority (66 percent) approval of Measure S, a $59 million construction bond. The bond also financed construction of the TK through second grade Vista School on the site of the long closed North School.
This year, improvements began at the district’s third school, the fifth through eighth Hermosa Valley
Unlike most other school districts, Hermosa’s enrollment is up 8 percent this year, fundraising is up, and its post pandemic test scores held steady, School Board President Monica Bove-LaMonica reported at the State of the Schools event.
Johnson credited the district’s success, in part, to its small size.
“Students who start out in transitional kindergarten at View, have the same classmates in third grade at Hermosa Vista, and in junior high, at Hermosa Valley,” he said.
Starting in 2023, Hermosa students’ time together will increase still another year when the district opens its new preschool, Bove-LaMonica announced at the State of the Schools