HBCSD Corruption

Proof of the lie:

(1) School Board members’ decision to blame the five-year waiting period on the EIR (2017-2019) and 2017 lawsuit is reminiscent of the district blaming the cost of the gymnasium and new construction at Valley School in 2005 on Valley School neighborhood residents.  Please see Lie #44:  From 2005 onward, school board members blamed the rising construction costs and the elimination of classrooms on a lawsuit brought against HBCSD in April 2005. The truth was that the rising cost of the new construction at Valley School was mainly due to increased excavating and shoring requirements by the Division of State Architect in July 2005 AND a deficit of approximately $2M of bond funds from the May 2005 budget estimates onward.

(2) HBCSD school board members, Superintendent Pat Escalante, HBCSD Attorney Terry Tao, the City Attorney Micheal Jenkins and City Manager Tom Bakaly with the assistance of multiple taxpayer-paid consultants outright lied to the public about the district’s facilities facts AND the provisions of the Agreement for the Sale and Purchase of Pier Avenue School in order to pass an overly expensive $59M facilities bond in June 2016.

(3) The Measure S bond that was passed on June 7, 2016 with a mere 193 votes to spare stated that school board members would determine whether or not demolition and reconstruction of North School made more sense than modernization.  The three-page long version of the FULL TEXT of BALLOT MEASURE S, page two, states that: “Projects may also include the costs of demolition and reconstruction of existing facilities currently scheduled for modernization, if the Board of Education determines that such an approach would be more cost-effective solution.”  (TL-2016 Full Text of Meas S)

(4) The Board of Education made the determination that demolishing and rebuilding North School and therefore waiting five years and spending $29M was the most cost-effective solution.  The arguments of how the determination was made by school board members are given in the Environmental Impact report.  Please see Facts #2 - #7.

(5) The citizens of Hermosa Beach, using a pro-bono UCLA educated and Harvard trained attorney (TL-2023 Morgan Ricketts), wrote a complaint to the Superior Court about the rampant misinformation provided by HBCSD and the City of Hermosa Beach to voters in order to pass their bond.  (TL-2017Sep28 Lawsuit)

(6) HBCSD evicted Children’s Journey from North School in August 2017.  When HBCSD evicted Children’s Journey they had not yet finished an Environmental Impact Report nor received permission from the Coastal Commission to destroy North School.  Citizens were worried that HBCSD would prematurely demolish North School.  The lawsuit contained a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop the district from tearing down North School before an Environmental Impact Report and Coastal Commission permission was obtained.  The TRO would NOT have stopped the district from continuing with an EIR or from applying for Division of State Architect permission to build a new campus at North School.

(7) The citizen’s lawsuit was filed on August 14, 2017.  The case was heard on/about September 26, 2017.  At the September 26, 2017 hearing the court threw out the TRO filing over technicalities.  (TL-2018April05 Lawsuit timeline)

(8) The district’s Measure S Detailed Listing of Warrants (payables) shows a continuous expenditure of funds to demolish and rebuild North School unhampered by the citizen’s lawsuit brought in August 2017.   (TL-2020Jan6 NS expenditures)

(9) According to Division of State Architect’s information, HBCSD submitted architectural plans for North School on January 12, 2018.  (TL-2019Jan17 DSA NS Approval)

(10) According to Division of State Architect’s information, the Division of State Architects did NOT approved HBCSD architectural plans for North School until  January 17, 2019.  HBCSD CANNOT start building until it gets approval for its architectural plans from the DSA.  (TL-2019Jan17 DSA NS Approval)   HBCSD did not submit architectural plans to the DSA until January 2018.  It is likely that it took longer for the DSA to approval plans for a brand-new campus than a renovated/modernized campus would have taken. 

(11) The final court ruling denying the lawsuit was made on February 28, 2018 and March 19, 2018.  Although the entire ruling took six months, there is absolutely no evidence that the lawsuit delayed either the Environmental Impact Report or the submittal of architectural plans to the Division of State Architects for permission to build. 

(12) The draft-EIR was started in March 2017.  According to the Notice of Preparation – Initial Study of North School there were 48 items out of 83 total items, or 58% of issues, that were identified as being Potentially Significant impacts in rebuilding North School.  School board members knew that the plan to rebuild North School would require an extensive and lengthy Environmental Impact Report.

(13) The first iteration of the draft-EIR was released in November/December 2017. Therefore, the lawsuit did not delay the draft-EIR.

(14) The second iteration of the draft-EIR was released in November/ December 2018.  HBCSD school board members accepted the draft-EIR in early 2019.

(15) The Coastal Commission gave permission to the district in September 2019 to rebuild North School for 510 students.  The demolition and reconstruction of North School proceeded directly after receiving Coastal Commission permission.  The lawsuit had NOTHING to do with the length of time it took to finish the extensive Environmental Impact Report, get Division of State Architect approval, get Coastal Commission approval and to demolish and rebuild North School for $29M. 

(16) By the time the new North School campus was completed, enrollment had dropped to 1,200 students, or approximately 270 less students than the district’s high enrollment in 2014.

(17) With the reconstruction of North School and enlargement of View School, HBCSD now had student space or classrooms seats for approximately 1,968 students.  Therefore, Hermosa Beach taxpayers paid $59M for more than 600 empty student seats at HBCSD.

(18) The $59M Measure S bond will cost taxpayers approximately $98M with interest added-in over 40 years.