Community Justice, Accountability, and Healing for Inglewood School Closures

By Dr. Amir Whitaker

We’re releasing our Inglewood Unified Report Card on November 1 at a special event. This IUSD Report Card is a community-driven, data-rich look at what years of state and county control have meant for Inglewood’s students and families.

Using participatory action research methods, focus groups, surveys, news articles, and state/local data, this report describes how IUSD’s neglect under receivership influenced declining enrollment and school closures. Aside from direct quotes from parents and educators, the report shares graphics like the map below highlighting 12 of Inglewood schools that have closed since 2018 (48% of total schools).

The close proximity of school closures to the So-Fi stadium (2023) and Intuit Dome (2024) is no coincidence. These projects cost $7.5 billion dollars total as they brought the world’s most expensive stadium and basketball arena in Inglewood. Communities were left behind as the projects also created school deserts and increased gentrification. Inglewood families continued to be pushed out while student enrollment 39% in IUSD in 10 years (2015-2025). Black student enrollment dropped by 45% rate over the 10 years. All this the district cycled through nine state/county administrators leading the district over 13 years of receivership.

Our coalition has been doing research for months, and we look forward to sharing it at the Report Card Launch and Community Altar event. The event coincides with Dia De Los Muertos (Mexico), Fèt Gede (Haiti), and other sacred days honoring ancestors. As a form of Healing Justice,we’ll be creating a community altar to hold space for collective grief related to school closures. We’re honoringancestors of the past while fighting for the rights of the future. Children have been on the forefront of the Inglewood fight leading sit-ins and protests. However, quotes like the one from a parent below highlight the traumatizing impact of school closures and underscore why we’re bringing the healing power of culture in our event.

“When my daughter found out they were going to close the school, she started crying and said, ‘I’m going to miss my friends…That school was our community. When it closed, it felt like they erased part of our history.”- Inglewood Unified Parent

Our report documents how years of instability and top-down decision-making paved the way for the school-closure and enrollment crisis. IUSD continues to operate with highest teacher-to-student ratios in the county and state (33-to-1 in IUSD vs. 25-to-1 across LA County. IUSD also had the highest chronic absenteeism rate in LA County in 2023-24 with 43% students chronically absent. This was twice the state and county averages, and over 47% of students were chronically absent in IUSD in 2022-23. Rates like this cost the district to forfeit $15-20 million in funding annually that could be used to serve students and keep schools open.

Our report identified at least 30 issues, policies, and failures related to school closures. Some of these are uplifted in a section of the report that compiles dozens of 2UrbanGirls publications from 2013-2025 (see list below).

13 YEARS OF LOCAL REPORTING ON IUSD UNDER STATE RECEIVERSHIP

Local award-winner journalists 2UrbanGirls Media have published dozens of articles on IUSD. Here’s twelve years of …2013–2025. The headlines are bold and reflect years of undeniable failure, neglect and frustration from the community as transparency issues and gentrification dominate.

• Dec 2013 “Morningside High School alumni step in to save the schools’ football program.” (Good things happening in the Inglewood Unified School District)
• July 13, 2014 “Parents of Inglewood are being denied an opportunity to keep their school district accountable. The committee voted against transparency.” — Sen. Bob Huff. Attempt to audit $55 million SB 533 loan blocked (Legislative Audit Committee kills audit of IUSD)
• June 2015 Instability and another turnover in state-appointed oversight as Inglewood Unified State Trustee announces his resignation.
• July 2015 Teachers Union communication highlighting workload, morale, and resource gaps under state management. (Inglewood Teachers Association wants you to know)
• March 9, 2016 “IUSD shows no signs of recovery under State control.” FCMAT identifies fraud in practices of state-appointed superintendent Dr. Brann (IUSD Legislative Hearing)
• April 2016 “Inglewood Unified State Administrator works to make progress”
• March 2017 “Will ‘underutilized’ IUSD property become housing?”
• Mar 2017 “Four years ago, voters passed a $90M bond to repair our schools — where did it go?” (How is Inglewood unified spending Inglewood residents tax money?)
• Apr 21, 2017 “Before the takeover, IUSD qualified for $118M in LAWA funds — state administrators secured only $44M, forfeiting $74M.” (State administrators allowed Inglewood unified to be out of compliance with state requirements)
• Jul 2017 “Inglewood Unified gets its sixth state-appointed administrator”
• Apr 2019 “IUSD schools continue to suffer despite billion dollar NFL investment in city”
• Jul 2019 “Inglewood unified state administrator announces retirement” 
• Jan 2020 “Inglewood unified prepares to lease out portion of land at Morningside high”
• Feb 2020 “Inglewood unified cracks down on low performing charter schools”
• Apr 2020 “CDE should move forward with closing Today’s Fresh Start”
• Oct 2020 “IUSD is a dysfunctional nightmare” Parent/employee letter describing chaos.
• Oct 2020 “Racial discrimination continues to fester in Inglewood Unified”
• Mar 2021 “Were Inglewood unified … administrators involved in corruption coverup”
• Apr 2021 “Op-ed: IUSD is going through an ethnic cleansing of black employees”
• Sep 2021 “Op-ed: Inglewood unified makes questionable new hire”
• Oct 2021 “IUSD school could be a casualty of the proposed transit connector”  
• Jan 2022 “Declining enrollment sets stage for IUSD school consolidation closures”
• Mar 2022 “IUSD cuts video after residents speak out against pending school closure”
• Apr 2022 “Inglewood taxpayers deserve better from the County Administrator”
• May 2022 “Inglewood mayor county administrator asks for school district loan to be forgiven”while mayor is conveniently up for reelection.
• May 2022 “Inglewood unified sits on millions in developers fees”
• May 2022 “Inglewood school closure doesn’t pass the smell test”
• Sep 29, 2022 “IUSD plans to close five additional schools due to declining enrollment”
• Oct 3, 2022 “County Administrator resigns from IUSD” Town hall met with frustration.
• Mar 13, 2023 “LACOE is forcing IUSD to shut Worthington; Morris disregarded the vote to keep it open.”(Students to stage sit-in at Inglewood Unified District Office)
• Mar 24, 2023 “Administrators shut down the meeting after protests over the planned closure.” (Inglewood school board meeting erupts into chaos during vote on school closure)
• Sep 2023 “Letter: IUSD quietly sells portion of Morningside High School to the Clippers”
• Dec 11, 2023 “Fifty students do not have a teacher, three classes unmanned.” (Parent Letter: Students without teachers in Inglewood Unified School District)
• Jan 29, 2024 “County administrator paints grim outlook for district’s future”
• Mar 21, 2024 “Inglewood announces closure of 5 schools”
• Apr 4, 2024 “Letter: Inglewood school closures are a true ‘bloodbath”
• Oct 1, 2024 “Mysterious fire engulfs shuttered Worthington Elementary”
• Mar 9, 2025 “Letter: LAUSD to coordinate student transfers out of IUSD”
• Jul 31, 2025 “Thirty kids in kindergarten… no dedicated middle school after Crozier… Morris is failing IUSD.” Parent Op-ed: “Is County Administrator James Morris good for IUSD”

The headlines and articles reflect the undeniable failure, neglect and frustration from the community as transparency issues and gentrification dominate.

Our report includes specific actions and demands for IUSD, LACOE, FCMAT, and policymakers. Some of these include reopening closed schools, investing in community schools, forgiving IUSD’s loan, a roadmap restoring local control to the school board, auditing the $220+ million in funds under Measures K and GG, and other much more.

EVENT INFORMATION

• What: Unveiling of the Inglewood Unified School District Report Card & Community Altar

• When: Saturday, November 1, 2025

• Time: 12:30pm (We will start the presentation promptly at 1:00pm)

• Location: All In Co-Working of Inglewood

• Address: 11011 Crenshaw Blvd. Suite 102 Inglewood, CA 90303

ACTIVITIES

• Presentation of Report Card

• Community Altar Creation

• Community Conversation

• Know Your Rights information for immigrant families facing harassment/ICE

• Food and Snacks