Board approves consent agenda, facility work, inspector contracts, licenses and a $500,000 scholarship gift

The El Segundo Unified Board of Education approved multiple action items by voice vote at its Jan. 14, 2025 meeting. The board approved the consent agenda and several individual action items with no recorded opposition.

The items approved included:

- Consent agenda (items a through p): approved by voice vote.

- Acceptance of gifts: $1,200 from the Center Street PTA to Center Street School and $1,608 from Blackbaud Giving Fund to El Segundo High School; acceptance stated to comply with Board policy 3290 (acceptance of gifts).

- Acceptance of notice of completion for rerouting rooftop low-voltage lines related to district office modernization phase 2; staff characterized the work as a temporary rerouting required as part of Phase 2 site work.

- Approval of additional DSA (Division of the State Architect) project inspection services from Pringle Group for the district office modernization Phase 1, and approval of DSA project inspector services from Pringle Group for Phase 2; staff said Phase 1 ran longer than planned and state-required inspection time needed to be extended.

- Approval of renewal of a license agreement with Kaiser Brothers for facilities at 21010 (district property); staff reported Kaiser Brothers has been a long-term tenant.

- Establishment of the Jeffrey E. Fortini Memorial Scholarship ("Learn and Go Forth for Service Fund"): the board approved creation of the scholarship following presentation by staff. The scholarship is funded by a $500,000 donation and will provide an annual award of $20,000 to a graduating senior with the highest mathematics GPA over the prior three years, per the presentation.

Where motions and seconding were recorded, the transcript shows a mover and a second for each item; where individual board members cast roll calls were not named, the meeting used a standard voice vote and the board clerk recorded the actions as approved. The student representative, Grady Loops, gave a preferential vote of “Aye” on multiple items during roll calls.

Notes and clarifications: - The acceptance of gifts was reported to be consistent with Board policy 3290 and with applicable education code restrictions. - The DSA inspection approvals were described as billable only for services rendered; staff recommended approval because Phase 1 required more inspection time than originally anticipated. - The Jeffrey E. Fortini scholarship was described in staff remarks as honoring a former student and public servant; donors and scholarship criteria were presented as part of the motion.

All items listed above were recorded as approved at the Jan. 14 meeting.