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Serving Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens, Norwalk, Lakewood, Pico Rivera, and La Palma • 45,000 homes every Friday • May 6, 2011 • Volume 21, No. 52 • www.loscerritosnews.net
ABC School Board fails to fill vacant school board seat
Whitney High School Multimedia Groundbreaking Ceremony Held
Applicants call process a “total circus” and “embarrassment.”
Norwalk City Council Turns the Television Cameras Back on for Public Comments By Randy Economy
By Randy Economy
I
n a rare marathon Saturday meeting, the ABC Unified School Board of Education could not reach agreement on who should replace recently elected Cerritos City Council Member Mark E. Puldio. An election will be held this November in conjunction with the regularly slated ABC School Board election to fill the remainder of the term that expires in 2013. The meeting began at 7:30 a.m. and lasted well into the afternoon, and 13 local residents pitched and pleaded their qualifications in 10-minute intervals. In the end, no applicant received a majority of votes from the six member ABC School Board, and it resulted in a stalemate. Emotions flared by the normally harmonious school board, and by the time all the dust had settled, many walked away frustrated, angry and disappointed in the entire process. Very early in the meeting, it was apparent that it was going to be difficult for the school board to come up with an agreement on who should get the appointment. The dozen-plus-one applicants included Ardash Sunak, Mansour Meisami, Louise Dodson, Anna Titus, Ernie Nishi, Cindy Yen Chen, David Montgomery, Ethan Robinson, Jean McHatton, Olga Rios, Kiran Rami, Lynda Johnson and Helen Lee. All of them were well versed on school board issues such as the state budget crisis, the importance of having an “open mind” as a school board member, and how they would guide the district during these “challenging” economic times. None of the 13 applicants were directly asked if they were willing to take the appointment and pledge not to run in the upcoming November election. But all of the hopefuls stressed their desire to serve “openly” and “honestly” on behalf of the “voters, taxpayers and for the best [See ABC Page 13]
Members of the ABC School Board and staff with members of the Whitney High School Foundation, former Mayor Grace Hu and Councilmember Mark Pulido gathered at the high school Apr. 30 for a ground-breaking celebration marking construction of the school’s Multi Media facility. The facility will feature state-of-the art audio/video production systems, performance and production studios, a graphics lab, classrooms and a 5,000 seat tiered auditorium. To date the Foundation/School has raised $4.5 million including a $750,000 donation by former Cerritos Mayor Grace Hu.
The public will now be seen and heard on television at Norwalk City Council meetings from this day forward. The long standing policy of not broadcasting public oral communications on the city operated and taxpayer owned access channels is now a thing of the past. On Tuesday, with the urging of recently elected Councilman Marcel Rodarte, and with the support of Councilman Leonard Shryock and Vice Mayor Cheri Kelley, the Norwalk City Council voted to formally lift the ban on airing public comments and oral communications during public meetings effective immediately. [See NORWALK Page 11]
Indian Bones Found at Fedde Sports Complex Site Bones said to belong to San Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians
By Jerry Bernstein It’s long been known that Native Americans lived in the general area of Hawaiian Gardens before the Europeans arrived known as the San Gabrieleno Indians. On Mar. 23, contractors working on the Sports Complex at Fedde Middle School in Hawaiian Gardens discovered human bones while digging a trench in relation to the Complex. Superintendent Dr. Gary Smuts reported to the ABC School Board at its May 3 meeting that in accordance with Public Health and Safety Code, police authorities and the Los Angeles County Coroner were contacted. It was subsequently determined by the coroner that the remains were Native American and are subject to California Public Resource Code and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 that requires the protection and preservation of Native American remains. [See BONES Page 6]
Above: Archaeologist Research Associate James Flaherty and helper sift through mounds of dirt adjacent to the trenches dug by construction workers. Some 200 bones along with numerous artifacts have been recovered to date. Inset: Jaw bone of San Gabrieleno Indian found at Fedde Sports Complex site.