The softball field at Morningside High School in Inglewood is choked with weeds. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) Board Member D’artagnan Scorza is an alumni of Morningside High School. Scorza proudly boasted about a $17.4 million dollar grant IUSD received from the state but students, staff, faculty and the community want to know where is it going?
Related: Inglewood Schools Get $17.4 Million Grant From State
Scorza was a visible leader of the Uplift Inglewood organization, providing quotes to every news media outlet in Southern California, for a rent control petition he spearheaded, which was destined for the November 2018 ballot. After it failed, he went MIA.
Scorza continues to reap a decent salary from his day job as Executive Director of the Social Justice Learning Institute, which continues to take in millions in private donations. He has been afforded the ability to purchase two homes in Inglewood, and is seen tooling around Inglewood in a pricey Tesla.
Scorza’s fortunes increased when he became the face of the Inglewood Revitalization renaissance when he gathered enough signatures for the city council to approve the NFL stadium project at Hollywood Park.
Despite the entrance of the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, and possibly the Los Angeles Clippers, none of these entities have made significant contributions to Inglewood or its students. So far, they have donated football uniforms, built a small playground at Warren Lane and donated a $10,000 Hometown grant to Highland Elementary. They have made generous donations to the council’s campaign coffers, which approaches $1 million dollars. This isn’t of any concern to the mayor that he and his colleagues have gotten more out of the NFL/NBA than the Inglewood residents and its students. This is why Inglewood residents and the news continue to point out the council’s allegiance to big business and not the residents.
Calls to Christine Robert, of the Robert Group, who was responsible for the Community Benefits Agreement portion of the stadium initiative hasn’t been available for comment on this issue since the city council approved the project in 2015. She continues to reap council contracts (despite failing at one) and made a tidy sum selling her childhood home to Mayor Butts, at a reduced price due to code violations.
Related: Inglewood mayor’s home purchase from city consultant raises questions
Scorza’s involvement with the NFL, led to a successful bid to win a seat on the IUSD board, however, his alma mater is falling into such a dismal state, it is unsafe for both football and softball games. Games are being cancelled due to the condition of the field.
The softball field has no bleachers and no dugouts to speak of, and the team benches aren’t big enough for everyone to have a seat. The field has no sprinkling system. It’s been broken for a while, and a skimpy Inglewood Unified maintenance crew can barely keep up with demands in a district long plagued by financial woes and crumbling facilities.
Morningside athletic director Daniel Campbell
Scorza proudly boasts of his continued involvement of My Brothers Keeper, an initiative of former President Barack Obama, but the community is tired of neglecting his responsibilites to IUSD students while he raises his profile for a possible higher elected seat.
Enrollment is at a dismal 8,000 students and an Inglewood charter made headlines due to fiscal mismanagement of taxpayer funds. ICEF Inglewood Middle Charter School was unable to renew as a result of poor student performance, which could indicate IUSD has no control over the district. Its all the more worse when you have one of your “own” at the helm and progress isn’t being made.
Scorza should be ashamed of the conditions of the Inglewood Unified School District that he claims to love so much.
Read the full LA Times article by clicking here.
