This presentation provides the broad strokes of a plan to rescue the current failing school system and replace it with one that will provide the children of Hermosa Beach with a world-class education.

1. Proposed Plan For
Hermosa Beach Schools
February 21, 2011

2. Outline
• The Problem facing Hermosa Beach schools
• The Crisis in US education
• The Challenge
• The Opportunity
• The Plan

3. Problem for the Hermosa Beach
School District
• The State of California is essentially bankrupt
• Cuts in spending for education due to California
budget crisis hitting all districts hard
• Deferred payments from Sacramento threaten
the ability for the HBCSD to make payrolls in the
not-too-distant future
• While relatively better off, Manhattan and
Redondo are not far behind Hermosa in this
financial crisis

4. Problem for the Hermosa Beach
School District
The fact is, Hermosa Beach
is unable to afford its school
district in its current form

5. Out of the frying pan...and into the fire

6. The Crisis in US
Education
We are losing a generation of American minds. American students are not learning the
skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s world. Today, 70 percent of our
eighth graders are not proficient in reading and most will never catch up.
Some 1.2 million American high school students drop out every year .
70%
of 8th graders can’t
read at grade level
Source: The Broad Center for Education

7. The Crisis in US
Education
44% $300 billion $192 billion
in lost wages, lost taxes
in lost wages and taxes
of dropouts under and lost productivity due
due to each cohort of
age 24 are jobless to dropouts from the class
dropouts
of 2007
While most parents think their children are receiving a quality education, the majority of
American students are falling behind their international counterparts. The consequences
to our country are dramatic.
Source: The Broad Center for Education

8. The Crisis in US
Education
Sir Ken Robinson notes that our current educational system
was conceived and developed from the philosophies of the
Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Both
unarguably important influences, but most agree we are
living in a different time with vastly different needs.
Source: The RSA, Sir Ken Robinson

9. The Crisis in US
Education
A public education in the early 1800’s was intellectually
stimulating, considering that the alternative was backbreaking
farm labor. Today enduring most public education curriculums
requires some form of anesthesia, because life outside the
classroom is unprecedentedly intellectually stimulating.
Source: The RSA, Sir Ken Robinson

10. The Challenge
• Hermosa Beach has a universally
recognized special character worth
preserving.
and
• Our schools are an integral part of
the special character that binds our
community.
therefore
• To preserve Hermosa Beach’s special
character we must protect our
schools and keep them independent.
How can Hermosa Beach retain its wonderful schools,
preserve its unique civic culture, and deliver a world-class
education to its children?

11. The opportunity
Hermosa Beach has an opportunity to:
1. Strengthen and enhance the special
character of the city
2. Preserve and maintain its value to local
residents and property owners
How? By making its schools better.

12. The Plan
1. Gain direct control of the school district
Preserve the best of the current system, while
enhancing the way education is delivered to provide
world-class education to our kids
2. Create a financially sustainable model and ease our
district’s dependence on the troubled State budget
Obtain and retain the support of the entire Hermosa
Beach community

13. Gain Direct Control
Convert to a Charter District
Pros Cons
•Private school education in a • Effort to convert to new
public school environment structure
•Self-determination of our • Increased time commitment
children’s education from Community
• Potential to increase school • Managing the change to a
programs new educational model
• Provide our teachers with the
freedom to teach creatively
• Charter structure allows for a
financially sustainable model

14. Gain Direct Control
By converting to a Charter District we create
the freedom to solve our financial crisis,
enhance our children’s education, and de-
couple from a failing US education system.
Our children get a private school education in
a public school environment.

15. Financially Sustainable
Take Local Responsibility for
School Funding
Pros Cons
• Local ownership of the •Getting Community to
school’s spending support funding measures
• Sustainable model eliminates • Shouldering personal
need for future bailouts financial responsibility
• Ability to retain & attract • High cost to convert -- gets
great teachers worse before it gets better
• Attracts great students
• Increases Community value

16. Financially Sustainable
Taking greater responsibility for our
schools allows us to lessen our
dependence on State funding,
provides autonomy for educational
choice, and enhances the value of the
Hermosa Beach Community.

17. Modernize Education
Free the teachers to deliver world-class education, not
just No Child Left Behind (i.e., mediocre) test results.
Fund the programs that enrich kids’ lives and help them
look forward to the school day.
Ever see a pre-schooler that doesn’t like to paint, draw,
dance, and sing?
Now picture what 12 years of exposure to the US
education system does to most kids.

18. Sustained Communications
Professional, persistent communications emanating
from the private foundation to inform Hermosa Beach
residents on educational issues and how it affects the
entire community.

19. Stay Involved

20. Resources
Support the Strategic Planning Committee’s work
Send comments to questions@hbcsd.org
Support the existing fund raising organizations:
- Hermosa Beach Educational Foundation - www.hbef.org
- Hermosa Valley & View Parent Teacher Organization - www.hvpto.com
Contact me at rw@savehermosaschools.org to discuss this plan
Learn more about the crisis in US education
here: www.broadresidency.org/about/crisis.html
Watch Sir Ken Robinson at TED*
here: www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
*If you have kids do yourself a favor and watch the 10 minute Sir Ken Robinson talk from TED
Photo credits: Brittography, chelseagirl, Suman Chakrabarti, Supermac1961, jen robinson, erin MC hammer