City School District

The Huntington Beach City School District has named Shari Kowalke, a parent at two district schools, as its new trustee. The board chose Kowalke on Tuesday over three other finalists to replace Shirley Carey, a longtime trustee who died March 22. Kowalke will be officially sworn in Tuesday and serve as a provisional trustee until the next election in November 2012, Supt. Kathy Kessler said. The elected trustee will then serve until 2014, completing the remainder of Carey's four-year term.

The Huntington Beach City School District is seeking to sell the closed LeBard School site in order to generate millions of dollars in funds to purchase a new office building. Why? Is the district's current building too small to accommodate the district's employees? Is parking too limited? Are public meeting facilities too cramped? The answer to each of these questions is no. Despite difficult fiscal times and with school funds severely strained, the district's board of trustees and Superintendent Gregg Haulk feel they're entitled to acquire a new office building and to relocate the district's employees.

Robert H. Burke Robert H. Burke, a school board member in the Huntington Beach City School District from 1964 to 1976, died Sept. 26 at the age of 81 in Wailuku, Hawaii. Born in Iowa, Mr. Burke served in World War II as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force, earned an engineering degree from UC Berkeley and moved to Huntington Beach in 1963 to work for Signal Oil and Gas Co. He was elected to the California Assembly in 1966 to fight against the inclusion of the Seal Beach and Ocean View school districts into the Huntington Beach City School District, said Tony Tovatt, a longtime friend whom Mr. Burke replaced on the school board.

As of June 30, the Huntington Beach City School District will suffer a big loss as longtime superintendent Duane Dishno steps out of the limelight and into retirement. Dishno was named superintendent in 1991. Prior to that, he had a long career as an administrator, principal and teacher. He began in the classroom in Westminster in 1963, where he met his wife Polly, also a teacher. He came to the city school district in 1975 as a principal and after roles as director of special education and special services, he took a superintendent's position in El Monte in 1984 and later at Bonita Unified in 1988.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District board on Thursday appointed a former teacher, principal and superintendent to replace trustee Brian Garland, who passed away in March. The trustees picked former Huntington Beach City School District Supt. Duane Dishno to serve until the next general election. "What an honor," Dishno said. "What an honor to be selected, and what an honor to be able to step into the position that was filled by Brian Garland. " Garland had battled a heart condition since suffering a heart attack at age 46. He was 71 when he died.

Vote: 5-0 WHAT HAPPENED: The administration submitted a new board policy and administrative regulations that addressed energy and water conservation. Supt. James Tarwater responded to questions from the board. WHAT IT MEANS: In a unanimous vote, the trustees supported the belief that it is responsible to insure that every effort is made to conserve energy and natural resources, while exercising sound financial management. Vote: 5-0 WHAT HAPPENED: Tarwater again fielded questions in response to the proposed energy management conservation plan, a modified summer work schedule, which the board passed unanimously.

12 ready to run for school board in November One city, four school boards and, thus far, 12 candidates. With the November election fast approaching 12 hopefuls have emerged with plans to snag the various open seats from the elementary to the community college level. With three spots up for grabs on the Huntington Beach Union High School board, Bonnie Castry and Matthew Harper are both set to defend their spots, while Brian Garland, the recently retired principal of Edison High School and former Huntington Beach City School board member, has thrown his hat into the ring.

The Huntington Beach City School Board gave the administration the go ahead this week to begin development of a resolution to call for an election to raise funds for the construction and improvement of school facilities. During the past two years, about $56.5 million in school and classroom improvement projects were identified through a series of staff and community meetings conducted at each school. As might be expected in facilities that are more than 30 years old, needs include such projects as repair and replacement of heating and air conditioning systems, water and sewer upgrades, roof replacement and electrical upgrades to accommodate modern technology.

Lauren Vane The governor's budget proposal, issued earlier this month, predicts a grim financial future for Huntington Beach schools, and, if approved, translates to millions of dollars in cuts for at least one local district, school officials said Tuesday. The Huntington Beach City School District will need to make $2 million in budget cuts as the combination of declining enrollment, new cost responsibility and the withholding of Proposition 98 funds create an incredible challenge, school officials said.

In his March 10 "Sounding Off" Evan Sorensen offers a fine-sounding simplistic solution to the fiscal problems at the Huntington Beach City School District, but he overlooks the complexities of the situation. Sorensen suggests that the obvious solution would have been to sell all the surplus sites, and that the district should have already started that process. But there are two big problems with this idea. He acknowledges interim Supt. Duane Dishno's position that the sites should be retained in case we need more schools in the future.

Sparks continue to fly between residents and the Huntington Beach City School District over the future of the LeBard Park and school site near Brookhurst Street and Indianapolis Avenue. LeBard Park includes several baseball diamonds, parkland and a parking lot adjacent to what was formerly LeBard Elementary School at 20451 Craimer Lane. The building is now being used as school district headquarters, and administrators describe it as dilapidated and in need of replacement. At issue are 15 acres owned by three parties.

The Huntington Beach City School District is seeking to sell the closed LeBard School site in order to generate millions of dollars in funds to purchase a new office building. Why? Is the district's current building too small to accommodate the district's employees? Is parking too limited? Are public meeting facilities too cramped? The answer to each of these questions is no. Despite difficult fiscal times and with school funds severely strained, the district's board of trustees and Superintendent Gregg Haulk feel they're entitled to acquire a new office building and to relocate the district's employees.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District board on Thursday appointed a former teacher, principal and superintendent to replace trustee Brian Garland, who passed away in March. The trustees picked former Huntington Beach City School District Supt. Duane Dishno to serve until the next general election. "What an honor," Dishno said. "What an honor to be selected, and what an honor to be able to step into the position that was filled by Brian Garland. " Garland had battled a heart condition since suffering a heart attack at age 46. He was 71 when he died.

Gregory Haulk is the new superintendent of the Huntington Beach City School District. Haulk, who currently serves as Eureka City School District's superintendent, was selected by the school board for his instructional leadership and ability to manage school facilities and bonds and balance budgets, according to a news release issued by the district. In his 22-year career in public education, Haulk has served as a coach, an elementary and middle school teacher, a vice principal, a principal and superintendent, the release said.

Shirley Carey, a longtime trustee for the Huntington Beach City School District, died last week at the age of 71. Carey, who was first elected to the board in 1990 and reelected last year, died March 22 from pneumonia, kidney failure and heart complications, her daughter, Jennifer Farias, said. A nurse by profession, Carey often volunteered for the city's Children's Needs Task Force and other local groups in addition to her trustee duties. She also served as president of the Orange County School Boards Assn., a board that oversees local school and community college boards.

No one was interested in leasing the Kettler Elementary School site from the Huntington Beach City School District on Tuesday when the district board was scheduled to open the bids. The district's board of trustees put the school site, which closed in 2005, up for lease to shore up some funds for the district's ailing budget. But shortly after 7 p.m., when the bids were ready to be announced, no one had shown interest in leasing the site. Jon Archibald, the district's assistant superintendent of administrative services, told the board that the district received some calls about the site, but no one seemed interested enough.

One Huntington Beach school district may be unable to meet its financial obligations in the next three years, state officials say. The Huntington Beach City School District is listed as one of 10 Orange County school districts with a qualified status, meaning it may be unable to meet its financial obligations for the current or next two years according to the California Department of Education. The district made a number of cuts over the summer, eliminating and reducing jobs, cutting programs and increasing class sizes, to fill a $21-million budget deficit over the next three years.

Classrooms to be cleaned twice a week.Starting Oct 13 2009  At the board meeting the board members approved to cut three more night custodians  that being said the classrooms at Moffett  Elementary School and Hawes Elementary School will be cleaned every other night and Perry  Elementary School along with Eader  Elementary School site may have their classrooms cleaned every two days. Without proper custodial care, even our newly remodeled classrooms will soon lose their luster.