Inglewood Unified highlights ‘community schools’ progress and local‑indicator gains

Inglewood Unified School District officials used the June 24 board meeting to showcase two years of early progress on its community schools initiative and to summarize local indicator findings tied to the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan.

At the start of the public session, Dr. Bernardet Lucas and Deborah Tate introduced the district’s community schools program, using a short video and site examples to highlight on‑campus resources such as community closets that supply clothing and food, family engagement events, and partnerships with local organizations. "Community schools are built on a simple but powerful belief: when schools, families, and communities work together, students thrive," Tate said, adding that the program is mid‑way through a five‑year implementation plan and that the team will continue to provide site‑level data updates.

Presenters credited community donations and partnerships for helping sustain services. In response to a trustee question about supplies, Tate said many items come from community partners and cited recent large donations from the Los Angeles Rams and corporate donors, including Bank of America. "A lot of our schools got boxes and boxes of clothing to fill the community closets…free," she said.

District staff then tied the community schools work to the LCAP and California Dashboard local indicators. Dr. Danielle Goulby explained that the local indicators — which cover basic conditions, implementation of academic standards, parent engagement, school climate and course access — are the district’s way to summarize performance to families and the state. She reported that districtwide the district met basic service requirements and described the state's five‑point reflection tool used to rate implementation stages.

Principals from three school sites delivered local indicator summaries. Miss Robbie Tate presented Latihara’s results and said the school rated itself at "four" (full implementation) in several instructional areas, citing increased math coaching and ELA professional learning. Dr. Saba Aria presented City Honors’ indicators, noting growth in math and ongoing professional development partnerships (including local university partners) and announced expansions in CTE pathways and world languages.

Board members praised the presentations, linking improved school programming to rising interest from families. Trustee Ernesto Castillo said the presentations "have solidified that Inglewood Unified is on the rise" and encouraged enrollment. Trustee Margaret Turner Evans and others thanked school leaders for stronger parent engagement and instruction.

The district said local indicator narratives will remain an accountability tool and will be posted on the California Dashboard as part of annual reporting. The presentations emphasized continuing work — notably targeted EL supports, stronger implementation for some science standards, and family workshops to increase participation in advisory groups.

The board moved on after a round of questions and applause for the presenters.