HBCSD Corruption

Proof of the lie:

(1)       HBCSD did not follow CDE Class Size Reduction (CSR) requirements from 2009 to 2012.  According to information contained in HBCSD Audited Financial Statements for 2009-2010 SY, 2010-2011 SY, 2011-2012 SY, HBCSD enrolled more than 24 students per classroom in K-2nd grade.  (Exhibit DI-50a Financial Rpts w class size) According to the district’s School Accountability Report Card from 2009-2010 SY to 2011-2012 SY, HBCSD reportedly enrolled up to 25-27 students per classroom in kindergarten, first, and second grade.  (Exhibit DI-50 SARC View School class size) 

(2)         As of the February 2015 school board meeting the 3rd grade student count was 167 students.  The district used seven classrooms at Valley School for an average of 23.857 students in each classroom.

(3)         Looking back to 2012-2013 school year, HBCSD enrolled at most 169 3rd grade students.  The recent low was 144 3rd grade students in the 2013-2014 school year.  (Exhibit DI-5 HBCSD Enrollment Rpts 2008-2022)

(4)         According to the HBCSD enrollment report at the February 11, 2015, school board meeting, the incoming class of 3rd graders for the 2015-2016 school year would be slightly LESS than the amount of third grade students that attended Valley School in the 2014-2015 school year.  The incoming class of 3rd graders for the 2015-2016 school year (i.e. current class of 2nd graders) was 163 students.  The 163 2nd grade students moving to third grade in the 2015-2016 school year would give HBCSD a five-student buffer before the 2015-2016 3rd grade class surpassed the 24:1 ratio while using the same number of classrooms (7) for third grade as were used in the 2014-2015 school year. 

(5)         In addition, HBCSD enrollment reports for February 2015 show that the 7th grade class in 2014-2015 school year was very large (181 students).  The large incoming class of 7th graders would graduate after the 2015-2016 school year, leaving less students at HBCSD overall for the 2016-2017 school year.  (Exhibit DI-5) Therefore, in the 2016-2017 school year (only one year later) maintaining a Grade Span Adjustment ratio of 24:1 students/classroom would become much easier.  Why then would school board members choose to move approximately 150 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School in the 2015-2016 school year and completely overwhelm the already severely impacted View School?

(6)         Decision Insite’s March 2014 enrollment report projected an increase in students for only one year: the 2015-2016 school year.   After that, from 2015 through September 2023 DI projected stable enrollment with a decline of about twenty-two (22) less students in the district.   See Decision Insite enrollment predictions report of March 2014  (Exhibit DI-19)

(7)         It did not make sense for HBCSD to egregiously overcrowded View School just to accommodate one year of possibly going over the 24:1 ratio for 3rd grade at Valley School.   Any per student penalty would have cost the district much less than purchasing and installing 3 portable classrooms and one portable restroom at View School for $721,476.00 and severely overcrowding View campus.  Not including the cost and inconvenience to staff of moving seven classrooms worth of desks, books, etc to View School from Valley School for only one year of anticipated increase.  See HBCSD Temporary Facility Costs 2012-2014.  (Exhibit DI-13)

(8)        In the 2015-2016 school year, the final 3rd grade student count was 149 students, eighteen students less in third grade than in the 2014-2015 school year.  The district used seven classrooms at View School for an average of 21.28 students in each classroom.

(9)         In the past (2006 – 2009), HBCSD had tried to evenly distribute students between Valley and View schools so as not to overwhelm any one campus.  For example, in the 2008-2009 school year, HBCSD housed 61 2nd graders at View School and 75 2nd graders at Valley School.  Parents were given the choice whether to have their 2nd grade child attend View School or Valley School.

(10)         If the district HAD run out of classrooms for third graders at Valley School, on a temporary basis school board members could choose to:

A.      Take the hit of reduced funding for exceeding the 24:1 ratio

for one year. https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/cefcsp.asp

B.      Move any remaining third grade students that could not be

housed at Valley School to View School temporarily.

C.      Create a mixed classroom of high achieving 2nd graders and low

achieving 3rd graders or high achieving 3rd graders and low achieving

4th graders at either Valley or View schools.

D.      Decide to temporarily house 3rd grade (or any other grade) at

either the Community Center or North School so as not to overcrowd

Valley and View schools.  Construction at North School did not start

until September 2019.  The City of Hermosa Beach could have

temporarily halted its low priority community classes at the

Community Center in favor of HBCSD students*.  See discussion and

facts for North School and the Community Center.

NOTE: From 2013 to 2016 HBCSD kept available reserves as high as 25.9% or $3,384,821.   HBCSD is only required to hold 3% of their undesignated fund balances in reserve.  Some of the $3.4M reserves could have immediately been spent to improve North School or the Community Center for student use.  (Exhibit DI-0)  In addition, school board members could have used the $721,476 spent on temporary classrooms at View School to renovate either North School or the Community Center for student use instead of allowing View School to remain overcrowded.

(11)     Superintendent Pat Escalante** had claimed that the district received about $500,000 for following Class Size Reduction (CSR) requirements.  However, HBCSD would spend $721,476.00 to purchase three more temporary classrooms and a restroom which contributed to an egregiously overcrowded View School.  Could the district have saved $221,476.00 by foregoing the supposed $500,000 funding for CSR and NOT purchasing the three classrooms for the 2015-2016 school year, after which enrollment was projected to decline?

NOTE:  Pat Escalante does not hold a Doctor of Education degree, nor did she have any prior experience as a superintendent.    See information on Pat Escalante.

(12)         In July 2019, when the plans for a brand new $29M campus at North School were slated to be approved by the Coastal Commission, school board members were able to take advantage of the concerned parents whose children had spent years in artificially overcrowded conditions.   Superintendent Pat Escalante and HBCSD attorney Terry Tao were able to get 103 parents to send emails to the Coastal Commission advocating for an unneeded, brand-new $29M dollar campus.