Lie 3 | The Missinformation | Hermosa Beach, CA

Lie #3

The Misinformation:

(1) Lance Widman, former Hermosa Beach City Council member (1975-1981) and signer on the Sale and Purchase Agreement for Pier Avenue School and HBCSD School Board member(2002-2009):

“School board trustee Lance Widman, who was mayor at the time

of the 1978 sale, said it’s an idea that’s time has passed.” “…the

idea to buy and remodel the Community Center was considered fully

and found not to be economically sound.” School district finalizes

construction plans by David Rosenfeld, June 17, 2004, Easy Reader

Newspaper.

NOTE: There is no public record of the Community Center being considered "fully" as Lance Widman states. Please see Lie#10: Unverified Statements: There is no proof to verify these statements made by Superintendent Pat Escalante, and School Board members Lance Widman and Greg Breen.

NOTE: See also: Lie #4: Claiming that the Community Center does not meet CDE Title 5 Regulations. Lie #5: Misinforming the public that the Community Center can only be used for recreation purposes. Lie #6: Misleading the public as to the condition and safety of the Community Center (or the grandfathered-in North School) for students. Lie #7: Claiming that the Community Center and North School are not ADA (Americans with Disability Act) accessible. Lie #8: Claiming that renovating historical schools such as Pier Avenue School or North School are very expensive and cost prohibitive.

(2) Lance Widman, former Hermosa Beach City Council member (1975-1981) and signer on the Sale and Purchase Agreement for Pier Avenue School and HBCSD School Board member (2002-2009):

"The major problem is that while Hermosa has its Community

Center, it is owned by the City, not the School District. The City

bought Pier Avenue for around $650,000 over 25 years ago. How much

do you think it would cost the District to buy it back, assuming the

City even wanted to sell it -- $4 million, $6 million or more?”

Letters to the Editor by Lance Widman, December 22, 2005, Easy

Reader News.

NOTE: As a signer on the Agreement for the Sale and Purchase of Pier Avenue School, Lance Widman knew that the district did not need to purchase the Community Center/Pier Avenue School to use classrooms, offices, and storage facilities there. HBCSD had priority leasing rights to the Community Center. Please see Lie #3: Claiming that the Community Center needs to be purchased by HBCSD in order for it to be used by the district.

(3) Lance Widman, former Hermosa Beach City Council member (1975-1981) and signer on the Sale and Purchase Agreement for Pier Avenue School and HBCSD School Board member (2002-2009):

“…There are currently no state matching funds available to make

this happen, Measure J funds cannot be used, and the District does

not have other funding sources to acquire the site even if it wanted to.”

No “Middle” ground by Lance Widman, March 30, 2006 Letters to the Editor, The Easy Reader News.

NOTE: The reason that there are no Measure J funds that could be used to renovate the Community Center for students is because Lance Widman and other School Board members did not list it as one of the usages for the 2002 Measure J bond. Instead HBCSD School Board members would spend $11M on a gymnasium, two classrooms and a library at Valley School from 2006 to 2008. Please see the Time Line: December 6, 2001 to November 7, 2002.

(4) Greg Breen former HBCSD School Board member(2002-2009):

"Prassas correctly states that new construction is expensive, but

maybe I missed the part about how cheap it would be to acquire,

refurbish and update a 70-year-old facility.” Can’t get the

Community Center back by Greg Breen, Letters to the Editor,

April 20, 2006, The Beach Reporter.

NOTE: Greg Breen fails to disclose the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding that was accepted by Lance Widman and George Schmeltzer at the City Council meetings of June 14, 1977 and June 28,1977. Why didn’t either fellow school board member Lance Widman or former city council member George Schmeltzer tell Greg Breen about the MOU? Why didn’t Greg Breen do any further investigating of the Agreement to check his statements before giving incorrect information to the community? Why did it fall on an un-elected community member to research and disclose this information in August 2013? (TL-2013Nov20 Document uncovers details)

NOTE: Please also see: Misinformation and Misleading Statements contained in Letters to the Editor #9. Can’t get the Community Center back by Greg Breen, Letters to the Editor, April 20, 2006, The Beach Reporter.

(5) HBCSD Facilities Planning Advisory Committee August 21, 2013 meeting minutes:

“Discussion held on notes versus minutes. Committee asks for

more formalized minutes rather than notes. Committee requested

that the minutes from the meeting be distributed to the committee

prior to the next schedule[d] meeting.”

“Chairperson Ehsan asked for announcements. Superintendent

Escalante was asked to comment on the options of using the

Community Center for overcrowding of the facilities at Valley School

due to the continued increase in student enrollment. The Community

Center is owned by the city and is not currently a designated school

site.”

“The board has made the decision to place modular classrooms

on both campuses to solve (does placing more modular classrooms

on both campuses "solve" the overcrowding problem or does

installing more modular classrooms just make crowding worse at

Valley and View schools?) the current overcrowding as a short-term

solution [from 2013 until March 2021 (7 years) until North School

is rebuilt]. “

1. The Community Center could have also been used as a short-term solution to actually SOLVE overcrowding at Valley and View schools. By the time North School was demolished and rebuilt in 2021, HBCSD enrollment had dropped below the 1,266 student threshold that would trigger district use of the Community Center for students. Enrollment had dropped back down below Y2010 enrollment to 1,200 students. Taxpayers spent $59M to create approximately 600 or more vacant student seats within the district.

2. There was no evidence of continued increasing enrollment prior to the District's decision to rebuild North School after passing the their Measure S $59M bond in 2016. Please see: Lie #27: Less than six months after the District won it's $59M Measure S bond vote, Decision Insite changed their enrollment projections from future large increase in enrollment to one of markedly lower overall enrollment at HBCSD.

3. HBCSD spent approximately $1.4M on short-term overcrowding "solutions" that did NOTHING to actually solve the overcrowding problem at district schools. The $1.4M spent on temporary classrooms was not a lasting district or community asset. The $1.4M spent on temporary classrooms was essentially wasted by the HBCSD School Board because they were not ready for the predicted increase in students from the 2002 Facilities Master Plan or using the Community Center lease agreement or renovating North School for an estimated $6.2M from the Juge Construction company.

4. Please also see: Lie #24: The district's demographic report given to the Facility Planning and Advisory Committee members in January 2013 made no sense and was later proved to be substantially wrong. Lie #28: Needlessly moving all 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School starting in the 2015-2016 school year - severely overcrowding View School 10 months before the District's next $59M dollar facilities bond vote. Lie #30: The enrollment facts at the February 11, 2015 school board meeting did not justify overcrowding View School with an additional 149 students.

(5) continued:

HBCSD Facilities Planning Advisory Committee August 21, 2013 meeting minutes:

“Committee member Bacallao requested that representatives from the state tour the community center to see if there are any Title 5 restrictions that would prevent the Community Center as being used by the district should additional classroom space be needed in the future. Committee agreed that if we need or want to continue investigating the Community Center, the committee would need a directive from the board.”

1. The FPAC was never given authority to investigate using the Community Center for students. Apparently, school board members had already decided that they wished to keep students in overcrowded conditions until they could pass a $59M bond to rebuild North School.

2. Please see: October 19, 2014 – Email from Monique Ehsan FPAC chair to Superintendent Pat Escalante and School Board member Patti Ackerman:

“I am writing just to clarify a matter with regard to the

FPAC so that we don’t fan the flames of the opposition. Your letter

to the Editor last week indicated that the FPAC considered Prospect

Heights, South School, the Time Warner building and the Community

Center. The FPAC never discussed Prospect Heights or South School

because we didn’t understand the history of the School District with

regard to the sale of these properties and any leaseback options nor

did we have a mandate to do historical research. Katrina Bacallao,

on her own time and with her own funds, exhaustively researched the

history of the District but her findings were presented to Pat, not

to the FPAC. At a couple of meetings Pat [Escalante] brought up the

Community Center* and the fact that we don’t own it but we never had

an FPAC discussion about the States rep’s tour of the facility, the

Title V inadequacies, the MOA [MOU], etc.”

*NOTE: Superintendent Escalante did not bring up the Community

Center, members of the public brought up the Community Center

during FPAC discussions. There was no substantial discussion

of the Community Center in the FPAC meetings.

(6) (01:03:20) Pat Escalante, HBCSD Superintendent (2012–2020): …”one of the comments that comes up over and over again, and I understand it, is why is it that the district cannot, um, utilize the use of the former Pier Avenue School, now known as the Community Center? And, um, the fact of the matter is that the City owns it, that property…” Hermosa Beach Joint City Council and School Board Meeting, May 28, 2014. Time Stamp: 01:03:20

(7) Carleen Beste, HBCSD School Board member (2009-2018):

“I just wanted to ask a clarifying question to council member Barragan. Were you suggesting that the school district purchase the Community Center for development of property when we already own property, in, at North School?”

Nanette Barragan*, City Council member (2014-2015):

“No, I was, um, talking about, as far as the Community Center, my understanding was the school owned it and sold it to the city at a very cheap rate. I think at a very discounted rate. And in exchange, contracted to have rights to reacquire it. That’s my understanding.”

Carleen Beste, HBCSD School Board member (2009-2018):

"Right, but we would still have to… But in that scenario, we’d still have to put money into repurchasing a site and redeveloping a site when we already have property that we own.” Hermosa Beach Joint City Council and School Board Meeting, May 28, 2014. Time Stamp: 01:22:48

*NOTE: Nannette Barragan resigned her seat on the Hermosa Beach

City Council in 2015 to run for the U.S. House of Representative for

the 44th California Congressional District. She won her race as

U.S. House of Representative in November 2016.

(8) Lisa Claypoole, HBCSD School Board member (2007-2015):

“Um, in the 1970s and 80s the school board of Hermosa Beach sold away our property. That didn’t include anyone at this table. It didn’t include anyone on that side [City council members and staff]. They sold away our property for good or for bad. That is the position that we are in. The beautiful sites that are there: South School, Prospect Heights aka Fort Lots of Fun, plus some more, plus the Pier Avenue School does not currently belong to this district.” Hermosa Beach Joint City Council and School Board Meeting, May 28, 2014. Time Stamp: 01:25:57

(9) Pat Escalante, HBCSD Superintendent (2012-2020):

“During the public comment section of the meeting, several residents asked the City Council and Board to consider the use of the Community Center (formally Pier Avenue School) to house school children. For over a year, this suggestion has been investigated by the City, District and State agencies, and eliminated as a viable option for the following reasons:”

“Existing Data/Facts: October 8, 2013 – City Staff report was unanimously approved and filed, that states: The Community Center is the property of the City and is not for sale…” May 2014 Board Highlights (sent to HBCSD parents.

(10) Greg Breen, former HBCSD School Board member (2002-2009):

“The Hermosa Beach School District would have to purchase the property.” … “All the school district would have to do is re-purchase the building from the city (anyone looked at the price of real estate, compared with values in 1978?),…” Pier into the past, by Greg Breen, 07/30/15, Letters to the Editor, Easy Reader News

(11) Carolyn Petty, Mayor and City Council member (2014-2017):

"It is not for sale. …. “The property would have to be purchased at current market rates.” Letter to the Editor, 06/02/16, Easy Reader News (Submitted five days before the $59M bond vote.)

(12) Terry Tao, HBCSD attorney (2002-):

“So, I’m just highlighting the ones that might be a problem for an acquisition. Let’s just say, fantasy, the district really does go back, pays whatever it is that is necessary to be paid to reacquire Pier Avenue.” May 31, 2016 presentation to the Joint meeting of the HB City Council members and HBCSD School Board members. Time Stamp: 02:13:58

(13) The Environmental Impact Report (2017-2018): Section 7.3, page 7-4: Alternatives Considered and Rejected during the Project Planning Process:

7.3.2.3, page 7-8: Alternate 3, Alternative Locations: Alternate 3d, Community Center, page 7-8, 7-9:

“The District does not own any of the location considered. Additionally, since there is limited funding, purchase of a new property would require District to sell the North School site to pay for its purchase.”

NOTE: Even if some voters agreed that it was better that HBCSD rebuild North School for $29M versus using Pier Avenue School/Community Center for students, the fact is that the city council members, city manager and city attorney along with the Hermosa Beach City School District Board of Trustees AND Superintendent Pat Escalante

outright lied to voters for years about the facts in order to pass their

$59M Measure S bond in June 2016.