Faculty Concerned About Fairness

The community of Lomita wants their own unified school district. In the process of bringing this to reality, many citizens have been very critical of the Lomita school faculty’s efforts to teach their children. The faculty of Lomita Fundamental Magnet School has listened and has maintained professional silence for too long.

We have been misrepresented at public meetings. The 1984-85 California Assessment Program scores were used at a public hearing to compare our children and our efforts with neighboring school districts and with the state as a whole. The CAP scores for the sixth grade as distributed at the public hearing were incorrect, however. Had the correct 1984-85 scores been presented, the community would have learned that our scores ran 30 to 50 points higher in all tested areas of the sixth grade, thus putting us in the same ranking as those of neighboring districts and well above the California and Los Angeles Unified School District averages. Furthermore, the recently published 1985-86 CAP test scores reveal a marked improvement over the 1984-85 test scores.

While we as a faculty understand the concern on the part of the Lomita community for their children, we are also disappointed when we are not dealt with fairly. Fairness is a quality we try hard to instill in our children. We are particularly disappointed when we hear that we don’t care. Every staff member at our school is completely professional, hard-working and we do care. It is extremely difficult to hear these charges and remain silent.

Lomita Fundamental Magnet is an outstanding school. Nine years ago, the community and staff worked many volunteer hours designing a program that would make the first fundamental school in the district an exceptional one. And, since that time, we have zealously protected that spirit of unity and cooperation with the staff and community. We all have a strong sense of pride in our school. We know that we are succeeding in providing the boys and girls at Lomita Fundamental Magnet School with the finest education possible.

MARY BARTSTOW

Faculty chairperson

Lomita Fundamental Magnet School