Partnership With Our Schools

By David S. Burns

Our schools are perhaps the community's greatest asset. Schools provide the bedrock for our children's futures, and represent as a homeowner, much of our value.

The school problem is not just a city or school district problem, it is a community problem. Our school leaders, City Council, corporate partners, and residents must unite to solve the problem facing school repairs.

Like any major stakeholder in the community, we must continue to support our schools. I believe in a balanced approach to how we support business, development, public safety, and other services. I do not favor any one over the other. They are all important issues in our community.

Our school performance scores attract families. Great schools lead to economic vitality, and enhance the investment held in our home values. The schools represent the character of our community, and the promise for our children's future. Our children must have the best schools possible to ensure they have a path to higher education, and the chance to earn a degree toward their profession and raise their families.

The shared use agreement established for facilities between the city and schools is a resource that must be continued. Some candidates running for City Council do not believe the shared use agreement is a good idea, or feel that shared use agreement is too rich an entitlement, and may go away.

I do not support that idea. The shared use agreement is a winning strategy that supports the City of El Segundo, the residents, and the schools. The city has few public facilities. The shared-use agreement allows a fair and equitable arrangement that benefits the entire community. It is a sound and responsible financial arrangement that supports the greater good.

I do not believe in charity or city handouts for the schools. As a special district, the El Segundo Unified School District has an obligation for fiscal responsibility as any other government entity. This is why the shared use agreement make so much sense.

If El Segundo provided monies beyond the shared-use agreements it has already established, this could create severe financial problems for both the city and the schools in leaner budget years. I do not believe charity is what our community wants or needs. There are other solutions.

El Segundo can continue to partner with and support the El Segundo Educational Foundation and other stakeholders to fund the schools. I believe strongly in these vital partnerships.

Where the city has an obligation to work with the schools, we must also ensure that city policies reflect community concerns that are balanced with ensuring that the schools are not penalized from rigid, inflexible approaches. Filming fees fund significant programs for the El Segundo High School, averaging $200,000 to $250,000 annually for essential staff training, certification, and equipment.

Rebuilding the High School Athletic Fields, Auditorium, and Pools

The issue of the High School Infrastructure is centered around public health and safety. It truly is a safety matter. The high school auditorium facility and athletic fields are over 80-years old and have reached their end of service life. There is no band-aid approach, general maintenance is no longer sufficient to sustain them. There is general agreement in these areas. However, there is a great divide on what repairs should be funded and how the repairs or replacement should be prioritized. The true extent of damage and repair is unknown.

Until a professional engineering and cost assessment is conducted, discussion about what gets repaired is premature. The entire community needs to know what is broken, and what the true costs are going to be. Only then can discussion begin on what to do achieve solutions to problems, which must then be prioritized.

That issue aside - the repair and funding is beyond the current budget capability of the El Segundo Unified School District, and the City of El Segundo.

At the January 26th and 28th meetings of the community and the School Board, I offered a possible solution to those in attendance. A formalized commission (Task Force or like body) of community stakeholders must be established. The commission must represent a majority of the community stakeholders; ESUSD School Board, El Segundo City Council, El Segundo Educational Foundation, Parks & Recreation staff, parents, teachers, coaches, students, seniors, taxpayers, and of course representatives from our corporations, and major other entities and partners. Professional facilitation will be key.

There are many issues and groups in town with their own perceived needs and priorities. The commission must address the formal process of setting a road map or strategic planning process for the repair issues. Until all of the information is known and presented to the community (and this is a community issue), only then can the business of finding a solution be addressed; and only then will the people of this community buy-in to the potential solutions that are proposed.

Will a bond measure be supported? Are corporations willing to meet their ethical and moral obligations in supporting the rebuilding of one of this community's greatest assets? Is the community itself is willing to compromise?

These are the issues that will ultimately affect the ability to solve this problem. Senior residents in this town live on fixed incomes and are not likely to support bond measures. There are a myriad of competing issues. This will not be easy; especially with a possible recession and economic slowdown very likely to impede progress for the next several years.

The solution lies in true leadership. The ability of this community to resolve the infrastructure problems is not going to be solved by one individual or one entity. It will only be solved by the entire community collectively working together. When elected, I will help lead the community to a solution with my fellow Council Members and other community stakeholders.

Filming Process & Permits

Under the current filming process, the district has suffered financially. The loss of nearly $200,000 since July 2007 has created a financial loss to the High School. The Hollywood Writer's Guild strike between November 2007 and January 2008 compounded the loss in filming fees for the schools.

The residents that live in this area also have the right to live without unreasonable noise and activity that disturbs their way of life. I do not favor one party over the other. There is a solution.

I intend to bring the School District Board, High School Principal, and residents together to remedy this problem when I am elected. We can solve this problem, and we need to do it soon, or the schools will be continue to face severe funding shortages that will impact our community, our teachers, and our children.

The City of El Segundo Council has not taken any action regarding film permits, or actions that solve the problems for residents and the schools. In essence, the city has done nothing. That is precisely the problem.

The current process is broken. Action is needed now, and the current Council has not taken pro-active steps to solve the problem and find a solution.