HBCSD Corruption

Proof of the lie:

January 2013 -  The first meeting of the Facilities Planning and Advisory Committee is convened at the Valley School teacher conference room.  There is barely any room for attendees.

Members are: Pat Escalante – HBCSD Superintendent since spring/summer 2012; Angela Jones – HBCSD business manager; Kim Taylor – Valley School principal; Jason Butcher – HBCSD physical education teacher since 1999; Karen Hart – View School physical education teacher; Raul Santacruz Jimenez – HBCSD maintenance worker; Monique Ehsan – parent (resident since 2008) and Chairperson of the FPAC;  Ryan Nowicki – nonparent community member (resident since 2005);  Katrina Bacallao – former teacher and parent; Russ Wilson – resident since 2009, parent of two children attending View school; Peter Hoffman – grandparent of HBCSD students, Planning Commission member and Urban Studies professor at LMU. 

a.       Basically, the members had NO previous KNOWLEDGE of district facilities and history.  They are given NO background of the history of past HBCSD facility issues and decisions.   

b.       Meetings are not recorded, or video tapped.  FPAC meetings are held in a small conference room in the interior of Valley School.  The door to the conference room is kept closed during meetings.

c.       Community attendees consist of one or two at the first two meetings and up to three or four in later meetings.  Community members are only allowed to comment for three minutes prior to the start of each meeting.  Community members are not allowed to ask questions or make comments during meetings. FPAC members' email address are not made public to the community to ask questions or comment.

d.       The first one- and one-half hour meeting (6:30pm – 8:00pm) meeting is a meet and greet and an examination and discussion of Decision Insite’s 2012 Executive Insite Report for Hermosa Beach.  Decision Insite’s 2012 Executive Insite report made no sense and was later found to be substantially incorrect in its projections.  Please see: DISCUSSION AND FACTS Questionable demographic information, wild swings in enrollment projections and unbelievable historical scenarios contained in HBCSD reports by district consultants, Decision Insite Item #1.

e.       FPAC members are NOT GIVEN either the district’s 2002 Facilities Master Plan or the 2009 Update to the 2002 Facilities Master Plan (HBCSD paid architects Dougherty and Dougherty approximately $100,000 for an update to the 2002 FMP which was promptly shelved.)

f. FPAC members are not given the Sale and Purchase Agreement for Pier Avenue School.

g. FPAC members are given a very narrow mandate whether or not to renovate or build new North School.

h. The school district's "expert", Paul Bunton of BCA Architects had been arraigned by the San Diego Superior Court on bribery and lying on official forms.

i. Paul Bunton of BCA Architects estimates that to renovate North School would cost HBCSD $10.9M and take 19 months. Paul Bunton states that to demolish and rebuild North School would only cost $14.9M and take 30 months. Given the Paul Bunton's estimate to demolish and rebuild North School would only be a $4M difference, FPAC members recommend rebuilding North School. The actual cost to rebuild North School is $29M and 54 months. Paul Bunton does not add in the time and cost to create a Environmental Impact Report and get Coastal Commission approval to his estimates to FPAC members.

i. After only four meetings, with very little knowledge FPAC members are asked to give their recommendation whether to rebuild or renovate North School to school board members. FPAC chair Monique Ehsan recommends rebuilding North School.