La Mirada Blog
Articles by Ed Carrasco
La Mirada High Starts School Year Wtih New Principal
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!
La Mirada~ As La Mirada High students begin classes Thursday, September 9th, a new face will be there to welcome them to the new school year.
Bill Seals took over as the new principal in July, replacing Don Jones, who was assigned to a different school in the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, but has since taken a position in Chino.
In his first year as principal, the challenges he faces are to ensure that the upcoming evaluation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) goes smoothly and that he maintains a good relationship with staff, the students and the community.
"[WASC evaluations are] going to be one of our big undertakings over the course of the year because it's a formal process and it's a report that we write to the state as a staff and along with that is the staff getting to know and the leadership team that we have here," Seals said. "The goal is to get to know the community and get the administrative staff working with our teaching staff and make a productive working relationship and I think we do have a good administrative staff that can do that."
Another goal that Seals wants to achieve in his tenure is to maintain the improvement of Academic Performance Index score, which he gives credit to the previous administration.
"It's our goal to get our school to be an 800 API school and we're getting closer," he said. "We're getting out there and their test scores have improved this year. The staff's going to be proud that their numbers went up and we're going to continue that trend."
Superintendent Explains La Mirada High School Reassignments
La Mirada~La Mirada High School's administration was replaced because of pressing needs elsewhere in the district, Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Ruth Perez said.
The team, headed by principal Don Jones, has been assigned to other schools in the district and replaced by a new team headed by former John Glenn High School vice-principal Bill Seals.
"With regards to [former principal Jones], we needed him in more challenging situations," superintendent Dr. Ruth Perez said, who noted that Jones has accepted a position outside the district in Chino. "The administration serves at the pleasure of the school board and the superintendent. Where we're needed in the district is where we plugged them in."
She noted that this year, the school district went into program improvement because it was not performing as part of No Child Left Behind. A school district is placed into program improvement if it does not make Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years. As a result, she said the district needed the expertise of La Mirada High School's administration elsewhere.
While the school district comes to grips with its troubling performance, she said that La Mirada High does a lot better in academic performance in comparison to the other high schools. She credits strong teacher and parental involvement as a factor to its performance.
"[La Mirada] has extremely supportive parental involvement, a strong teaching staff and great leadership among its teachers as well," Perez said. "I expect La Mirada to continue to do well."
Still, she said the school always has room for improvement and she hopes that the new team led by Seals will continue to improve on its accomplishments.
"Bill Seals is an excellent fit for La Mirada High School and the team has a strong background in areas that will continue to move the school forward," she said. "I expect the new team to work with the community, establish trust with the teachers as well as the community and have a strong professional learning community to allow the work to continue."
La Mirada Salaries Are Middle-of-the-Road
La Mirada~La Mirada pays its city officials significantly less than that of Bell, which has recently been under fire for its exorbitant salaries of local officials.
According to City Manager Tom Robinson, his annual salary is $187,380, which he said has not changed in three years. Robinson's salary is vastly different from the disgraced Bell city manager Robert Rizzo's $787,637 annual pay.
In addition, the Mayor and four City Council members each earned $12,114.36 a year, with an addition $8,138 in benefits. City Clerk Anne Haraksin's annual salary stands at $106,988.
Robinson said that the situation in Bell is the opposite of La Mirada's fiscally conservative tradition of governance.
"There is no justification for the types of salaries that have come to light recently in Bell," he said. "They are not at all in keeping with the City of La Mirada's long standing tradition of being fiscally conservative."
He stressed that La Mirada wants to fairly compensate its employees "at the mid-range of what other similar positions are paid in the competitive marketplace."
"La Mirada does not want to be the highest paying employer, nor does it want to be the lowest," Robinson added. "The City of La Mirada wants to hire and retain good employees at reasonable pay levels to deliver quality services."
While Robinson's salary remains unchanged, La Mirada has made cuts in its annual budget and its personnel, resulting in a reduction of its full-time workforce to 82 employees, and freezing cost of living adjustments for a second year in a row.
Oxman’s Debuts Military Museum
Santa Fe Springs~Oxman's Surplus reopened its doors to the public in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday with a new museum of military memorabilia and a new mess tent café.
Long-time customers, new customers and officials from the La Mirada City Council and the Chamber of Commerce attended the ceremony that included many speakers and military history enthusiasts in World War II-era uniforms.
"Oxman's Surplus is a passion that came from a man who served in World War II," said Jason Oxman, the son of store owner Jerome "Mr. O" Oxman, before the ribbon-cutting ceremony began.
The store, located near the intersection of Rosecrans Avenue and Valley View Street in Santa Fe Springs, has been a fixture for La Mirada and nearby residents looking for surplus military equipment and other accessories since it opened its doors in 1961.
For the first time, the front of Oxman's Surplus will serve as its entrance, where customers will enter Mr. O's collection of military history, ranging from the Medieval period to Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, a restaurant serving mess hall items like hot dogs and meals, ready-to-eat (MREs) is located in the renovated wing of the store.
Administration Replaced at La Mirada High School
Norwalk~The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District board voted to hire a new administration for La Mirada High School Monday.
Michelle Millan, a secretary for Superintendent Dr. Ruth Perez, said the school board approved the hiring of William Seals, an assistant principal at John Glenn High School in Norwalk, as principal and out-of-district candidates Kelly Henderson and Rachel Heenan as assistant principals.
While La Mirada High will not have a third assistant principal, Michael Green, another outside hire, will become the dean of students.
Perez was not available to comment on why the school district replaced the previous administration.
Transportation Funds Drop for La Mirada in 2010-11
La Mirada~La Mirada will ask for less funding in its application for transit and transportation funds this fiscal year.
The City Council approved the city's application for funds on Tuesday, which will utilize around $2,397,751 in transit and transportation funds for the 2010-11 fiscal year, a 16 per cent drop from last year when they utilized $2,856,416.
"The difference between last year's request of funds of $2.8 million and the amount requested this year of $2.3 million is due to the change in the federal funding area," city manager Tom Robinson said.
He attributed the drop in funding requests to the one-time funds for vehicle replacement, tools and equipment for La Mirada Transit that the federal government granted last fiscal year.
County Cuts May Affect La Mirada Library Hours
The La Mirada Blog family welcomes Ed Carrasco to the writing team.
La Mirada~The County of Los Angeles has postponed its plan to change the La Mirada Library's hours of operation which would have started this Monday.
The county is consulting with labor unions on the changes, said Pam Broussard, County of Los Angeles Public Library spokeswoman. Because of the consultation, the changes to the library's operating hours are on hold.
As part of the county's $8.8 million cuts to the library system because of dwindling property tax and general fund revenue, the La Mirada Library would have closed on Fridays in addition to Sundays and Mondays. Its Tuesday through Thursday hours would have remained the same (10 a.m. to 8 p.m), but on Saturday would have changed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Any information regarding the library's new schedule will be announced in the coming days, said Broussard.
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