By: Marvin McCoy
God Bless your blog 2UrbanGirls but in the immortal words of Eddie Murphy “I ain’t falling for the banana in the tailpipe” as it pertains to returning Inglewood Unified School District back to local control because I’ve heard this same old tired script before and the only thing that has changed are the characters pushing the same tired lines with grandiose promises of this proverbial “honey and manna” raining down from heaven only to be so close and yet so far from the prize in returning IUSD to local control.
2UrbanGirls your blog, with expert care, has covered the chronic mismanagement of IUSD prior to receivership and during and your coverage supported by the district’s own FCMAT reports clearly shows that although the students, parents and teachers, and the greater community are waiting anxiously on pins and needles to return IUSD to local control it appears that those that who are charged with leading this task have acted in contradiction and egregious malice for self-gain in repurposing IUSD vast underdeveloped land.
We know they are BS’ing around because they still haven’t provided you with the documentation of how they spent the $85 million they got in COVID funds.
2UrbanGirls we can argue many things but facts are facts and this new tune that’s being sung by newly appointed County Administrator James Morris and Board Trustee President Brandon Meyers, a former candidate for Mayor of Inglewood, whom in my opinion earlier in his career showed potential for the great promise but has fallen way short of many expectations.
If I remember correctly wasn’t it Brandon Meyers and former board member and current Inglewood City Councilwoman Dionne Faulk who in collusion conspired with the other board members to mislead the Inglewood community that in fact they were fully engaged in a ruthless process to consolidate and close schools while pushing a tax measure to Inglewood voters claiming to refurbish and build more schools?
Once again aren’t we more compelled to be honest if we’re to apply this practical application as it relates to IUSD we’d all be better served by collectively having a coming to Jesus moment and admitting that the destruction of IUSD as we formerly knew it was crafted by design and a return of local control as it pertains to IUSD means creating a district that’s more palatable, more inviting, more enticing to students and parents with unlimited financial means as opposed to the high percentage of students that currently attend our school where English is their second language, are on IEP’s, live below the federal poverty line, and in most cases receive government assistance and qualify for free or reduced lunch?
Returning IUSD to local control under the publicly stated terms as mentioned by officials such as newly elected Assemblywoman Tina McKinnor isn’t only overly ambitious but unachievable and I can’t help to think other administrators such as Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo knows this as you may remember it was Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor Holly Mitchell, in a classic Freudian slip, admitted at a recent town hall held at Morningside High School that it was Duardo alone that had sole discretion of what schools were being closed or consolidated, contrary to the State and County’s public pleadings and disposition that it would be an inclusive community and stakeholders process?
And if these schools continue to be closed, many of which are in close proximity to the Intuit Dome and SoFi Stadium, what will become of the valuable land those schools sit on? Is THAT the desire to get all hands on deck to get control back to control the lucrative awarding of contracts that goes along with presumably building housing on top of it?
I don’t know but I like to play devil’s advocate and as cruel as it may seem but it shouldn’t be lost on you or your readers that after your blog began masterfully dissecting the FCMAT report for public consumption, making it easier for the average readers to understand it, coupled with the Board of Supervisor’s Freudian slip, that former County Administrator Dr. Erika Torres abruptly retired citing health issues as being the culprit?
I mean 2UrbanGirls haven’t we seen this tired Hollywood script before in former Inglewood appointed administrator Vincent Matthews who abruptly resigned to be closer to his family after allegedly his father was experiencing health issues, then conveniently after he was discovered to have left the day to day management of IUSD to consultants and by extension grossly mismanaging IUSD finances which some could argue further exasperated IUSD problems, reemerged later in San Francisco in a Superintendent capacity?
According to LACOE, our new County Administrator left his previous employment citing his desire to be closer to his ailing family only to become a consultant to Los Angeles Unified and LACOE?
Say what you want but this game is totally rigged against returning control of IUSD as the district would like you to believe and in the process, the clandestine but obvious public campaign to destroy IUSD as we formerly knew it will continue unless the students, parents, community members, teachers go the way of the disenfranchised parents of Pasadena Unified School District I’m facing the same obstacles in they have banned together to sue the district because they realize like Inglewood the game was rigged for them to fall.
Marvin McCoy is a lifelong Inglewood resident and can be reached at therealmccoymarketinggroup@gmail.com or on Twitter: @MarvinM83905936 | Instagram: @therealmccoymarketinggroup
