Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) narrowly avoided an audit last month, since the state loaned the beleaguered district $55 million dollars via SB 533. Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), with the support of Asm. Isadore Hall III (D-Compton), was three votes shy of the required amount to trigger the audit. Huff was adamant about bringing the issue back in August and he has.
Parents and the community are still unaware of how the initial $26 million was spent of the emergency loan. Inglewood taxpayers also have another property tax bond on the line after passing Measure GG. Inglewood residents were also shocked to learn a former board member may have misappropriated IUSD funds towards his re-election campaign. Measure K funds are still being disbursed with no accounting of its balance.
Related article: Joint Legislative Audit Committee kills audit of Inglewood USD
Inglewood residents have read, via the Daily Breeze, about the sale of the playground behind Worthington School, located in the 4th District of Inglewood. IUSD is facing lawsuits from several former employees and the entire safety staff has been let go. They can only return if they possess a guard card granting them the ability to be armed.
Dr. Don Brann has met with some community leaders to discuss his vision for the district but has yet to formalize those plans via communications to the Inglewood residents. Inglewood Today has shared news on the moving of the City Honors program to the Crozier Middle School site, but no mention of innovative and exciting programs to entice the children back to the K-8 grades.
It is estimated IUSD is down another 600 students and FCMAT recommendations have yet to be addressed. Parents continue to hold out hope that the schools are on the rise and many have remained with the district in solidarity with the teachers and staff.
The JLAC will meet tomorrow, to once again bring up the concern of how Tom Torlakson’s office has handled taxpayers money since his office assumed control of IUSD. 2UrbanGIrls wholeheartedly supports an audit of Inglewood Unified School District.
Dr. Brann’s and Joe Dominguez have made major improvements in being more transparent with parents and community members, are proactive when complaints arise, but the numbers don’t lie. We are still hemorrhaging students.
On the positive side, Monroe Middle School continues to increase their API in spite of children not having books to take home to complete their homework. Our kids are resilient to still excel, in spite of having less than other districts in the immediate area. When will our kids be treated in the same manner?
View the full JLAC agenda and listen to the committee hearing by clicking here
**updated 8/19/2014**
August 14, 2014, the Joint Legislative Audit Committe voted 8-2 against an audit of the Inglewood Unified School District. Another audit that failed was how the marketing and outreach money was spent on Covered CA.
