School Notebook

The state is giving out nearly $200 million in grants and loans for building or modernizing career technical education facilities at high schools across California and two local spots are on the recipient list.

The Southern California Regional Occupation Center, commonly known as SCROC although they're now asking to be referred to as SoCal ROC instead (an image thing? not sure), will receive almost $3 million from the overall pot, for upgrading its health science and medical technology facilities.

And the Centinela Valley Union High School District will get almost $2 million to be spent at Lawndale High School on a project identified by the state only as relating to "arts, media and entertainment."

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That Centinela's take will go toward perhaps, hopefully, finally finishing the extremely overdue performing arts center? If so, bravo, Centinela, bravo. I'll find out for sure and report back to you all, and asap!

The money in total is coming from the State Allocation Board (SAB), which has the Office of Public School Construction under its umbrella. Funding was awarded across 15 different industry sectors for 174 projects at high schools or other local educational facilities statewide.

The SAB provides grants to school districts for new school buildings and the modernization of facilities. The agency's new CTE Facilities program is a 50-50 process that requires a school to provide a matching contribution. A school district can apply for new construction or modernization funding if its facility is a comprehensive high school. A Joint Powers Authority can also apply for modernization funding if they were operating a career technical education program. The maximum grant is $3 million per project, per school site. If a district qualifies, the SAB can also loan all or part of the matching contribution.

A total of $185 million in grants were awarded. The SAB allocated another $14 million in loans for districts that were unable to provide the required matching funds (Centinela included, according to a state-provided chart).

And now for the requisite canned quote from an official-type person: “Governor Schwarzenegger has a strong, personal commitment and belief that career tech programs are an educational alternative that many California kids need,” said SAB member and Department of General Services Director Will Bush. “The benefit of these wonderful programs is that they provide the opportunity for our young adults to join the California workforce with enhanced skills and be more productive citizens.”

For a complete list of all the projects that received funding visit, click here.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As reported by Shelly Leachman in Saturday's Breeze, here's what each district would face under education funding cuts proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger:

Centinela Valley Union High
Cuts: $3.5 million from a $68 million budget

El Segundo Unified
Cuts: $1.4 million from a 26.4 million budget

Hawthorne Unified
Cuts: $3.4 million from a $48.5 million budget

Hermosa Beach City Unified
Cuts: $0.4 million from a $9.4 million budget
Proposals: 28 teacher layoffs, increased class size

Lawndale Unified
Cuts: $2 million from a $30 million budget

Lennox Unified
Cuts: $1.9 million from a $61 million budget

Los Angeles Unified
Cuts: $460 million from a $8 billion budget

Manhattan Beach Unified
Cuts: $0.9 million from a $36 million budget
Proposals: 5-7 teacher layoffs, fund transfers, combining course sections at Mira Costa, using reserves

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified
Cuts: $4 million from a $95 million budget
Proposals: 50 layoffs, increased class sizes, eliminating extended-day kindergarten

Redondo Beach Unified
Cuts: $2.2 million from a $67.5 million budget
Proposals: Increased class sizes, early retirement incentives, combining classified positions, introducing fee-based transportation for athletic teams, reducing substitutes, using one-time monies

Torrance Unified
Cuts: $9.4 million from a $196 million budget
Proposals: 70 full-time teachers, 11 custodians, 5.5 full-time special ed teachers, reduction of security at high schools, elimination of incentives including the School Safety Violence Program and the P.E. Incentive Program, early retirement incentives, reduction of travel/conference allowances

Wiseburn Unified
Cuts: $0.5 million from a $17 million budget

Posted by Toni Sciacqua at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Becoming the latest area school system to decide to soon seek more money from voters, Centinela Valley Union High School District trustees on Wednesday night approved a resolution calling for a parcel tax election on June 3.

If successful, the measure would implement a .04 (yes folks, that's four cents) per square-foot tax per parcel, per year. A typical 50 x 100 lot would run about $200 annually.

Seniors and disabled persons will be exempt from paying.

More details to come on this later today.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The board of Centinela Valley Union High School District has called a special meeting, to discuss and decide whether to attempt a parcel tax in the June 3 election.

No details yet on what shape and size the tax would take, but such things will certainly be revealed during the public session, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5, in district headquarters behind Lawndale High (14901 Inglewood Ave.).

If trustees go for it, they won't be alone in asking voters for money next election: Hermosa Beach City School District voted last week to attempt their own parcel tax in June, while Hawthorne board members green lighted a $20-million bond effort.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Students, staff, alumni and the community of Leuzinger High are invited to the school's annual Memorabilia Day event being held tomorrow, Saturday, March 1, on campus.

Sponsored again by the Leuzinger Alumni Committee, the festivities will feature a continental breakfast and memorabilia display from 9 to 10:30 a.m.; an assembly from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; a for-pay lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.; and live music and other entertainment from 1:30 to 4 p.m.

Alumni from as far back as the mid-1930s are reportedly planning to attend.

Leuzinger is located at 4188 Rosecrans Avenue in Lawndale.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The California Linguistic Minority Research Institute released a report with a list of 100 high schools that account for the largest share of students who leave a high school before collecting a diploma.

Based on each institution's number of dropouts for the 2005-2006 academic year, five South Bay high schools landed among the study's 100 worst offenders.

Narbonne High in Harbor City ranked 70th, with 166 dropouts or a dropout rate of 4.7 percent; Banning High in Wilmington sits at 77th with 158 dropouts or 4.5 percent of its enrollment that year.

With 154 dropouts and a dropout rate of 4.2 percent, Carson High landed at 81st place; Leuzinger High in Lawndale was at 88 with 145 dropouts (4.3 percent); and Gardena High hit 93rd with 141 dropouts, or 4 percent of its 2005-2006 enrollment.

Posted by Paul Clinton at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The membership of the Centinela Valley Secondary Teachers Association gathers for a general meeting later today at Hawthorne High for an opinion poll on the district's proposal to increase class sizes for the remainder of the school year.

The teachers are considering a temporary bump of their average class-size from 30.5 students to 33, and upping the hard cap from 36 students to 38. Should they approve the move, it would save the cash-strapped school system some $600,000 between now and June 30, officials have said.

Results of the poll will not be released publicly until later this week, or next Monday, when the two parties convene for their next bargaining session, according to union president Jack Foreman.

The district recently made public its dire financial situation and proposed the class-size increase among a $1.2-million package of mid-year cuts designed to maintain solvency through June.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just days after learning in a public meeting that their district is operating in the red and all but broke -- and only a month after an earlier meeting during which they fired Superintendent Cheryl White -- trustees of the Centinela Valley Union High School District are convening again tonight.

Following a closed session to approve a contract for newly installed interim Superintendent Jose Fernandez and, potentially, to hire an assistant superintendent of human resources, a public meeting will include a status report on the district's many and long-term administrative vacancies.

The closed session begins at 4:30 p.m., with the public portion set for 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the district office, at 14901 S. Inglewood Ave., in Lawndale.

Posted by Shelly Leachman at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)