As an Inglewood resident, a mother of three children, and a social work graduate student at the University of Southern California, it is disheartening to know that my city has a low-quality educational system. My children would have gone to Inglewood High School but knowing how the School District disregards the importance of children’s academics, I opted out of sending my kids there. Inglewood children will benefit from schools that provide funding to enrich their education. Therefore, it is essential that “City Leaders” listen to the Resident’s voices and assist the School District in making a change and create incentives for children and their families to come back to Inglewood for after-school sports programs, counseling, and tutoring.
Parents, Residents, and the Inglewood Unified School District must partner and identify resources to support the children and have a robust school system. Sure, the District is in receivership. But enough is enough; we parents need to re-engage. For example, Inglewood Unified School District needs to provide schools with funding to help educators create after-school programs that will include English, math, Science, and sports activities for girls and boys to improve their academic performance and keep them out of trouble. In addition, School District needs to have more social workers that will implement programs for students that are underserved and need resources for free tutoring and counseling.
Look at Culver City High School, where my kids went, and it’s five miles away from Inglewood High school. There is a significant difference in testing ratings, after-school programs, graduation rates, and college preparedness. According to the Great School organization, Inglewood High School test scores in English are 29%, and math, 5% below the state average. Compared to Culver City High School, test scores in English were 74% and math 39% above the state average. Inglewood High School had 30% fewer students participating in AP courses than Culver City High School. The equity reviews for Inglewood High school, which are the underserved students, were falling behind other students in the State and had a significant achievement gap. Culver City High School had more low-income students graduating and eligible for a state college or University by 42%.
As such, the residents and parents of Inglewood must attend the school board meetings and advocate for a better school system for their children. Parents and residents, there are programs out there that need your voice to start implementing and providing you with the resources and information to support your children in education, counseling, and wellness. Our children are the future, the change in society. Therefore we need to empower them to reach their potential. As my professor once said, “you need your voice to make a change” well, I am speaking now like the mother of our Inglewood children, “Inglewood Unified School District, you must do better.”
Miriam Patino
5 Comments
The bottom line is that, due to high turnover rates, IUSDs hiring practices are in a constant cycle of change.
To date, there are several people in high-level positions who are not educationally or professionally equipped to do “the work”. Which work? The work needed for the district to claw of the barrel – also known as FCMAT.
Incompetence or lack of capacity is at an all time high! Just check out the district office’s “leadership”. Report back what you find!!!
Bottom Line
Indeed Inglewood Unified should do much better!!!!
But please do not blame lack of funding as the problem.
Rather look to the decisions made about the funds!
Inglewood Unified receives the same dollars as other districts for each student based on if there are students in class that is “average daily attendance” Dollars.
Inglewood Unified in addition receives dollars for Limited English Proficiency which should be only for those who had limited English but a clever administration for many years falsely counting all students with SPANISH SOUNDING SURNAMES as LEP to get even more money despite the fact that many of those students had not only parents but grandparents who only spoke English.
Inglewood Unified also receives additional dollars based on the Community Development Block Grant Dollars. (That how much income question even those of us without children are asked routinely. This is why all students of Inglewood Unified receive FREE LUNCHES and snacks !
Yes Inglewood Unified also recieved Redevelopment set aside dollars for more than 20 years.
Inglewood Unified additionally received several Technology Grants to put WiFi systems in each of the schools and then more with Covid when every child needed a computer that was a grant.
MONEY is NOT Inglewood Unified’s problem !!!!!!! POOR (or miss) management is!
Consider failure to buy textbooks as required by law….even though money was provided a greedy group deprived Inglewood students of those and sold them for personal profit in San Francisco. Why did administration not account for cash not spent on those books for over twenty years?
Much more recently consider this year: less than 600 students roam the hallways of Morningside which in the seventies had a student population of 2,000 plus. There were no portables back then and each student was taught in Brick and mortar buildings but this year the administration decided to spend $50,000 on the portables !!!!!
Why are there any students using portables! Why did the district spend money on Morningside sod and then not water the field (pre-drought).
Why did IUSD spend money to completely rebuild Crozier middle school ( 7-8 grades) then make its feeder schools K-8?
YES PARENTS SHOULD BE INVOLVED ALL THE TIME ! You might have asked if only one child plays tennis why did one elementary school get a tennis court while other schools got no maintenance…But moving on to those outrageously foolish construction dollars those went on the property owners tax bill every single time renters voted in mass to tax homeowners starting with Measure K which was supposed to be enough to bring every school in the district up to date with “state of the art technology”… yes renters, those taxes for your children’s school buildings come at great expense to the seniors on fixed income !!!!!!!
Remember those ma and pa owners of their own home and maybe a duplex….Yes those seniors whose grand children are long out of high school ( btw those on Social Security who worked in professional jobs usually never get close to $1200.00 a month while entry level young people complain about $ 15.00 or $18.00 or $20.00 per hour with zero experience!!!!!!
Yes Go to the School Board Meetings and think about how they spend the money they have already rather than constantly asking for someone to cough up more.
Don’t sit and say my child needs someone else to….. start spending time helping your child with their homework rather than complaining you want free time to
go shopping or out to dinner. Pull out a reciepe and teach your child about cups and teaspoons ! Those markings to multiple for more or to cut the recipe in half are using math skills!
Make outings a learning experience and inspire your and neighbor kids to learn something in real space rather than on a tablet screen.
Consider without leaving the Southbay which museums can you name ?
Each one offers the opportunities to inspire learning either for no charge (donations are accepted) or minimal admission charge. Split the gasoline expense by carpooling with a neighbor!
Here are a few possibilities
Flight Path Museum in El Segundo re Commercial Flying
Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo – vintage vehicles
International Printing Museum – Lomita -learn how books and newspapers are made
Lomita Railroad Museum – small but a start climb on an old Train
Carrillo Museum- learn about ocean creatures in San Pedro
USS IOWA San Pedro -this one has a larger admission fee
And of course everyone should know about the museum in our own backyard
The Centinela Adobe not far from Randy’s Donut learn how Daniel Freeman and Warren Lane and Clyde Woolworth lived lives that changed yours
Point Fermin Lighthouse – San Pedro
Wayfarers Chapel- Paulo’s Verdes
Museum of Flight – Torrance
What we need is the idiots to be arrested for mismanagement, I assure you Dr Torres is sitting at home, by the way a new home she just purchased, smiling with her kids attending a private school, while we, our kids, get a bottom of the barrel teacher, or a disgruntled teacher, who truly won’t do nothing close to 100%. Who looses? OUR KIDS!
Yes. By the way Dr. Torres resigned a few weeks ago. Again, leaving our children without a plan for better programs. We need to get more involved as parents and residents of Inglewood to make some change in the education system of our children!