citizens for a unified wiseburn school District Ly diaRodriguez,Linda Cuesta,ShavondaV/ebber-Christmas Chief Petitioners

March22,2012 \ ,

Senator CurrenPrice Administrative OfficegWest 700StateDr, LosAngeles, CA90037 Honorable Senator Price. tlnification Legislation for\Mseburn SchoolDistrict As ChiefPetitioners of the'C.-itizens for a Wiseburn UnifiedSchoolDistrict, we urge you to asseftyour supportof the \MseburnSchoolDistrictand to authorkey legislation, whichwiil helpthe Centinela Valleyregionachieveeducational equity, Morethan ten yearsago, we petitioned the StateBoardof Education($BE)to transform the WseburnElementary SchoolDistrictinto a unifiedK-12 district. Although petitionin 2004,subsequent the SBEinitially approved ourreorganization legalpursuitscausedthe $BE to retractits decision, At present,our petitionis stalleddueto the2010StsErecommendation fora region-wide voteandthecurrent petition's inability to adequately address fiscalissuesbetween schooldistricts inthe Centinela Valleyregion.Recently,the WiseburnSchoolDistrictand Centinela jointlyestablished ValleyUnionHighSchoolDistrict (CVUHSD) planto an effective achievea regionalsolutionaddressing the needsof all districtsinvolvedwith CVUHSD.Legislation ts addresscurrentstatuteein the Education Codeis an essentialcomponent of the currentregionalsolution.Your immediate actionis criticalto ensurethe educational success of highschoolstudentsin the Centinela Valleyregion. The Citizens haveincessantly championed for a WiseburnUnifiedSchoolDistrict, by the 2010 theconcept of theWiseburn unification, as evidenced SchoolDistrict's petitionreaffirmation go We now on recordas withnearly3000signatures. therefore planas a methodto suppoiling the currentWiseburnSchoolDistrictunification for the long-term achieveour petition'soutcomewith superiorstipulations Valleyregion. educational andfiscalequityof theentireCentinela We recognizethat the superintendents of the threeelementaryschooldistricts, Lawndaler Havrrthorne, and Lennoxn havewithheldtheirsupportof this regional schooldistricts the elementary Although solutionfor sundryand arcanereasons. of this regionalplan,they wereinitiallysoughtas participants in the development would and Centinela thatWiseburn optedout of participation withthe knowledge ffi :II wvrw.sites.google.com/site/uniffwiseburn

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continueto move fonrya1d, Still,.the current.regionalsolutionexplicigyand generously represents theirinterestsas feederdistri-cts to CVUHSO. firrtfreirnoi., we haveno evidence thatresidents of thesefeederdistriotssharethesentiments of theirdistrict leadership. resngclfully requestyouto moveforwardandintroduce the requiredlegislation )1\/9. 'I.tfg 1o'stexpeditious mannerpossible. Thecreation of a WiseburnUniR"oSchool Districtis a viablewayto narrowthe existingachievement gapbetrrueen \Mite and AsianversusAfricanAmerican and.Latino lt will disiribute the responsibility .Vluth. of educating all studentsr1the region,including thosewithspecialeducation/lEp needs,providing reliefto OVUHSDhigh schooliandthe region'ssevenwait-listed charterhighschools.Finally,it willpreserve theeconomic daseof thesurrounding community by eliminating the needfor struggling * familiesto pay for eosgyprivatl institutions andunanticipated bondtaxhikeslactionto get legislation passedas a )tvetfalt< you in advancefor your immediate foundation to the WiseburnlJnification Plan. lf you hive ariyquestions or need additional information, pleasecontactusas specifi'ed below. Sincerely,

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rffu:W*&MW^*'k/Wa*A.WvV'6 frr&^'r6.0*'.npLldiaRodriguez LindaCuesta $havonda Webber-Christrnas ChiefPetitioner 5164W. 131st$treet HaWhorne, CA 90250 Phone(310)676-8052

ChiefPetitioner 5521W. lzfith$treet lJawthorne, CA90250 (310) Phone 536-9614

ChiefPetitioner 5131W 139th ST F{awthorne, CA90200 Fhone(310)644-7507

C: TomJohnstone, $uperintendent, \Mseburn SchoolDieirict LosAngelescountycommittee onschoolDistrict organization Assemblymember StevenBradford Assemblymember BetsyBufler LosAngelesCountyBoardof Supervisors Dr.ArturoDelgado, LosAngeles CountyOfficeof Education Superintendent StateSuperintendent TomTorlakson - All BoardMembers California Stateof Boardof Education Educational LegalAlliance

http:/iwww.sites.google.com/site/uniffwiseburn