Schools
School District Aims to Stay Steady
Hermosa Beach administrators review programs and achievements in the school district's annual address.
While state funds have increasingly decreased, the has managed to stay afloat, according to administrators who spoke in the annual State of the District address Wednesday night.
Officials including the school board president, PTO president and principals recapped academic programs at both Hermosa View and Valley schools as well as the district's financial standing in the hour-long City Hall gathering (see accompanying video excerpts.)
Among new programs are art and tech animation classes where students learn to fuse paintings and software together, producing short films.
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"Rather than looking at [disciplines] in isolation, they can create something new," said Hermosa Valley principal Pat Escalante.
Other electives include Spanish, a , and the PTO-supported Safe School Ambassadors program.
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Revenue was an equally major point at Wednesday's address.
The Hermosa Valley-View PTO consistently raises "close to $150,000 a year to our schools," said PTO president Ilene Levin.
Currently, 80 percent of funds are donated to schools while 20 percent goes to the endowment. Grants and fundraisers such as the annual have helped ease some of the financial burden.
"We have explored revenue enhancement at every turn," said board president Cathy McCurdy.
The full State of the District PowerPoint presentation is downloadable on the school district's website.