Haley Buss

On Wednesday, March 7, 2018 I attended the board meeting held by the Hawthorne

School District. This had been my first time attending an official board meeting, so I was excited

and curious to observe how the meeting would proceed. The meeting began with two

presentations of awards. The first presentation was two awards given to ​ Lt. Goetz and Sgt.

Wiley of the Hawthorne Police Department for their support of the students, families and staff

members of the Hawthorne School District. The two police officers have been visiting each

school site within the district to train teachers and students how to react and protect themselves

during an active shooter situation. The officers have been conducting these trainings during their

own personal time and the district and board members were very appreciative of their work. I

was honored to have been there to witness this presentation of awards to these caring and

devoted police officers.

The second presentation of awards was given to the winner of the Twelfth Annual

Hawthorne School District Grades 4-6 Spelling Bee. The winner was a fifth grade student who

had also won the Spelling Bee last year. He will continue on to compete in the Los Angeles

County Spelling Bee on March 28, 2018. It was heartwarming to see this young student be

recognized for his hard work and witness the joy on his family members’ faces.

The next portion of the meeting was a discussion and approval of Consent Items. The

Consent Items included a) California School Boards Association Delegate Assembly, Region 24,

b) Positive Certification of District’s Ability to Meet Financial Obligations, c) Award RFP No.

S17-18-2 Wide Area Network Communication, d) Water Efficient Landscape Devices - Horizon

Distributors Inc. - District Wide, e) Charter Bus Service Contract, f) Project Lead The Way

Grant, g) Memorandum of Understanding with California State University Dominguez Hills

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(CSUHD) Foundation. This section went fairly quickly for all the items were approved by all of

the board members. This section was also slightly confusing for myself because I was not aware

of the specific details of these items nor were any handouts about these items provided at the

meeting. From the side conversations of the board members, I gathered that the district was

excitingly awarded $20,000 from the Project Lead The Way Grant as well as another $30,000

grant from the Chevron company. Once this section concluded the rest of the items on the

agenda proceeded quickly and the open meeting came to an end. I was thrilled I was able to

attend this meeting, especially a meeting with such positive and uplifting news and presentations.

This meeting allowed me to gain a new experience and help me grow as an educator and a

member of the community.