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VOL. 34 NO. 2
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SERVING BIXBY KNOLLS, CALIFORNIA HEIGHTS, LOS CERRITOS, WRIGLEY AND THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
O’Donnell earned advancement to run-off election despite Write-In Candidate Bill
June 15, 2012
File photo
Long Beach 4th District Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell’s name would have still made it onto the ballot for last week’s run-off, even without the passing of the California Write-In Candidate Bill. savings, Proposition G was on Michelle Lecours the ballot. The measure prohibited city councilmembers who Staff Writer Despite recent challenges to already served two terms to be the contrary, write-in candidate listed on the ballot. The measure and Long Beach Council 4th stipulated, however, that a twodistrict incumbInt Patrick term incumbent could win a O’Donnell would have still been third term if a majority of voters on the ballot in last week’s run- wrote in the candidate's name on off against challenger Daryl the ballot. Long Beach voters Supernaw regardless of the new passed the measure. That same California Write-In Candidate election, Councilmember Clark won and went on to serve one Bill. AB 461, a California law more four-year term. Although passed last summer ensuring he could legally do so four years that the intent of the voter is later, he did not run for a final taken into account in the event a term and left after 30 years. “I don’t believe in term limballot goes to a manual recount, didn’t change the results of its,” said Clark, now serving on April’s election for O’Donnell the Board of Trustees at Long and Supernaw, according to Beach City College. “It does Long Beach City Clerk Larry take a period of time to actually learn how to be an elected offiHerrera. cial. People have an opportunity History of Long Beach term every four years, and, if they’re unhappy, they can elect somelimits In 1992, Councilmember one else.” Until last week, former Thomas J. Clark had served for an unprecedented 26 years in the Mayor Beverly O’Neill was the 4th district. Figuring it would only Long Beach sitting official cost him only a couple thousand to successfully win a third term dollars of his own money, trial through a write-in campaign, attorney and resident Dennis which she did in June 2002. Carroll, seeking “new ideas” for According to Herrera, O’Neill the 4th district, decided to do had to run as a write-in candithe legal work and fund a term- date twice. Her name had to be limits measure for Long Beach. written in on both the primary Ten months later, after Carroll spent $65,000 of his own
see TERM LIMITS page 15
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Butler students and faculty say goodbye to former school, gear up for Nelson Academy A Butler student hugs principal Sparkle Peterson while schoolmates Daeja Gipson (far left) and Hannah Ing (center) look on.
CJ Dablo Staff Writer
Students and faculty at Butler Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School celebrated a special rite of passage this week at their middle school in Signal Hill. When the school bell rang one final time Thursday afternoon and students at Butler snapped shut their weathered textbooks, the kids may have shed a few tears for the school they are leaving behind, but most of them will also look forward to starting a new school year across town. The students who are finishing the sixth and seventh grade at Butler will start as seventh and eighth graders at the Jessie Elwin Nelson Academy at 1951 Cherry Ave. Incoming sixth graders from all over the district will join these kids, according to Denise “Sparkle” Peterson, the current principal at Butler and the designated principal for Nelson Academy. The school that is designed to accommodate about 850 students, according to their marketing
Weekly Weather Forecast Friday
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materials, will feature a number of state-of-the-art features. Peterson said that this fall, the school will have about 750 students. Spokespeople from the school district and from the Measure K Bond Program confirm that among the new technology highlights, the school will have campus-wide wi-fi access, electronic whiteboards in some classrooms, and most notably, every student will be getting his or her own 16 GB iPad 2 tablet computer. Peterson said that everyone is excited about the move to Nelson and the new iPads. “It’s very refreshing to see how the students are eager,” Peterson said in an interview last month at Butler. The principal described a student body at Butler that is already focused on education and thrilled at the prospect of joining a new school. “Most of the kids here don’t know ‘brand-new,’” Peterson added, “to be the first.” The facility itself is new, but Nelson Academy will also be the first school in the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD)
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see SCHOOL page 14
June 15–19, 2012
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to provide every student with an iPad, Peterson confirmed. However, it won’t be the end of books at Nelson. The principal said students will still have textbooks and even access to a new library on campus. She acknowledged that it will be a challenge to integrate both the textbook and iPad together in the classroom. The teachers began professional development last month to prepare for the change. “We are not worried about the students using the iPads,” Peterson said. “The students probably will teach us some stuff. We really believe that.” The cost for the iPads, like the rest of the facilities on campus, is paid entirely through funds available through Measure K, according to Peterson. Voters passed the measure in 2008 which used property tax dollars and funded the construction and improvement of schools in the LBUSD through bonds, according to the website dedicated to Measure K school construction projects.
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This week’s Weekly Weather Forecast sponsored by: 5021 E. Anaheim St. 562-494-1014 www.lbplayhouse.org
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