Whitney High School Cerritos High School Cerritos Elementary
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
LOS CERRITOS Winner of Fourteen LA Press Club Awards from 2012- 2017. 86,000 Homes Every Friday • NOvember 2, 2018 • Vol 33, No. 26 PART TWO of a Two-Part Series THE CR UM BLING OF ABCUSD SCHOOL BY BRIAN HEWS AND TAMMYE MCDUFF Measure BB is a $248 million general schools, Artesia High, and Ross Middle & S obligation bond measure that will provide Hawaiian Elementary Schools. This week ABCUSD students with improved and up- we toured Whitney and Cerritos High, and graded school facilities that are safe, secure Cerritos Elementary. and modern. ABC residents will vote on Once again what we found was shock- the bond in the upcoming election on No- ing and goes beyond any regular mainte- vember 6. nance budget; substandard equipment in ABC is only one of nine school districts classrooms and infrastructure problems, that has not passed a bond since the 1990’s, even at the best high school in California, Termite damage at Whitney High. and it shows. Whitney High. Obsolete monitor at Cerritos High. Last week we toured the first three The stories are below. Whitney High School Cerritos High School Cerritos Elementary ccording to US News Re- y all measures, "the big- onstructed in 1969, Cer- port 2016, Whitney High gest need will be a new ritos Elementary School ASchool is ranked number Bscience wing. STEM ca- Cwas next on our list one in the state of California, and reers are the acronym of the day hosted by Principal Kevin Am- ranked 19th nationally. HMG- and we are seriously under serv- burgey. LCCN was met by Whitney High ing our students,” said Cerritos The tour was almost can- School John Briquelet and Dean High School Principal Patrick celled, due to a lack of staffing. of Students Craig Spratt to dis- Walker, “There are many areas At the last minute Amburgey CHS sink in the Chemistry lab, the class produces college ready cuss how Bond Measure BB can that we can address however; I was called to be a substitute for technicians, yet students do not have the opportunity to practice. improve the facilities. feel this is our priority.” a sixth grade class. However, One of the areas that bond The initial design is complete- this turned into an opportunity measure funds will be used for is ly outdated, not seeing any up- to speak with students and get to improve science class rooms. grades since the 1970’s. Touring their input into the condition of “Our classrooms are in rough one of the most prominent classes their school. shape,” says Briquelet,”they lack in the District, the pharmacy tech- As in most situations of the space; they lack equipment and nology, was the first stop on the schools we have toured, a stu- sufficient technology. We are one tour. dent had come into the main of the best schools in the nation, Joel Duer, Pharmacy Techni- office announcing that the WiFi but in order to continue to educate cian Instructor stopped class to was down, reemphasizing the our students, we need to move discuss the needs of this class- need for expanded and improved into the 21st century.” room, infrastructure to hold a higher WHS desks are deteriorating and breaking apart, aisle in classrooms Briquelet says that the school “Every pharmacy classroom demand of band width. are so thin students must turn sideways to walk down the aisle. and the district have been able to needs a sink, so that we can prac- When the school was con- offset some of this, but if the dis- tice compounding, we don’t have ceptualized, it was built in an trict cannot improve certain areas, one. Most pharmaceutical class- ‘open space’ concept. The entire they will begin to fall behind. rooms have laminar airflow hood “400” building of the school, “I think the biggest impact where you actually practice mak- that holds eight classrooms, is the science rooms. We are the ing IV’s, we don’t. And in train- did not have a single wall built number one school in the state, ing to be a technician you need to on the inside. The inside walls and we have done this with a se- know the importance of an eye- were not included, with the idea vere lack of equipment,” added wash station, we don’t have one of classroom sharing, “The idea Spratt, ”think of what we could of those either.” behind this open concept,” says accomplish if we could offer our Even though the class turns Amburgey,” was that you could students upgraded and modern out certified college ready techni- share with other students, and CES was an open space school, walls between classrooms are two See WHITNEY page 8 See CERRITOS HS page 8 See CERRITOS ES page 9 inches thick; the noise disturbs all teachers in their own classrooms.. 2 Los Cerritos Community News - LosCerritosNews.net To advertise call 562-407-3873 NOVEMBER 2, 2018 NOVEMBER 2, 2018 To advertise call 562-407-3873 Los Cerritos Community News - LosCerritosNews.net 3 BANK OF INDIA OPENS IN CERRITOS CERRITOS MAYOR Pro Tem Naresh Solanki and Councilmember Jim Edwards (center) joined Bank of India executives at the official ribbon cutting this week. BY TAMMYE MCDUFF gest corporations as of 2017. It is the larg- est bank in India with a 23% market share State Bank of India / California [SBI] in assets, besides a share of one-fourth of is a full-service financial institution estab- the total loan and deposits market. lished in 1982 The bank descends from the Bank of At present, the Bank has a total of Calcutta, founded in 1806, via the Imperial seven branches throughout California with Bank of India, making it the oldest com- headquarters located in Downtown Los mercial bank in the Indian subcontinent. Angeles. The Bank of Madras merged into the other The Artesia Branch recently moved two "presidency banks" in British India, the into Cerritos, with a ribbon cutting and Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay, grand opening held Wednesday, October to form the Imperial Bank of India, which 31, 2018 in a grand collaboration of both in turn became the State Bank of India in Cerritos Regional Chamber of Commerce 1955. and Artesia Chamber of Commerce. SBI is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services com- The new Branch is located in the pany. It is a government-owned corpora- Cerritos Towne Center at 17500 tion headquartered in Mumbai, Maharash- Bloomfield Avenue, Suite B, Cerritos. tra. The company is ranked 216th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's big- 4 Los Cerritos Community News - LosCerritosNews.net To advertise call 562-407-3873 NOVEMBER 2, 2018 Trick-or-Treating for the Pediatric Ward AT FOUNTAIN VALLEY REGIONAL HOSPITAL BY TAMMYE MCDUFF Dressing up and going trick-or-treat- ing is the next best holiday for children other than Christmas morning, but if a child is in the hospital, it can be a very sad day. That is why Fountain Valley Regional Pediatric Department does Halloween in a big way. Children and families were allowed to dress in costume and walk the hall- ways of the hospital that were lined with all types of characters passing out treats, toys, pencils, gift cards and even bits of ‘healthy’ candy. This year the theme for Halloween was ‘Toy Story’, with over 300 nursing staff dressing up in every character from the best animated film in history. Hallways and hospital rooms were filled with Woody the Cowboy, Jessie the Cowgirl, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Potato Head, Squeeze Toy Aliens and PEDIATRIC STAFF and patients wish everyone at the Happy Halloween event at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital. Children even Rex the dinosaur [actually three] staying at the hospital with their families were allowed to dress in costume and walk the hallways of the hospital that were lined making an appearance. with all types of characters (FVRH employees) passing out treats, Azita Pournathmeh, Director of Maternal Child Services was pretty in pink, dressed as tour guide Barbie, she 12 years later. This year almost the en- “When children learn they have to Angels, I was able to feel more at home told HMG-LCCN, “This is my second tire hospital participated. It was tremen- be in the hospital at Halloween, they and celebrate the holidays.” Ramirez year at Fountain Valley and I am here as dous!” After the parade the children had feel very disappointed,” added Feilden, made a complete recovery and now at an ambassador of good health and well face painting, pumpkin decorating and “but when they learn they can still have 19 years of age is back as a volunteer for being, bringing gifts, trick-or-treating fun activities. fun, it really brightens their mood. Kids the Pediatric Ward. and just making sure our patients enjoy Feilden went on to say that there are can bring their own costume or choose Fountain Valley Regional hospital themselves. This is such a fun event for guidelines, because of some children’s from one that has been donated.” Joni’s and Tenent Health also held a Halloween the children and their families.” diagnosis, they cannot have sugar or Angels, a non-profit organization, col- Alumni event for those children and “The parade has evolved enormous- certain food items, so treats needed to lects and distributes costumes to the kids families from the neonatal intensive care ly,” said Adrian Feilden, Child Health be chosen carefully. Many departments if needed and they help prepare and lead Specialist for Tenant Health Fountain decided to dress in a theme of their own the Halloween Parade.