Lynwood Rotary Meeting Update 08-21-2014

At the Lynwood Rotary Club meeting on Thursday noon, August 21 members and guests heard and saw the presentation by Lynwood Unified School District Superintendent, Paul Gothold. A total of 45 people attended this meeting which included Rotary members, guests from the Senior Center, and parents and Youthact students from Roosevelt ES and Helen Keller ES. Also thanks to Tila and Fernando Millan for helping publicize this meeting with the special speaker, and also thanks to our member Lucy Avalos and her catering staff for quickly providing extra food for the large turnout!

Our speaker was introduced by Daniel Miller, who noted that Mr. Gothold has been Lynwood Unified School District (LUSD) Superintendent for two years and before that was the Deputy to the Superintendent for three years. As Mr. Gothold noted at the start of his presentation, he started his career in the Montebello School District, as a classroom teacher, and has held every position in the school district hierarchy, leading up to deputy to the superintendent in the Montebello District.

Using a Power Point presentation, with hand-outs, Mr. Gothold's Presentation was entitled Achieving Greatness Initiative: College & Career Readiness for All Students. Elements of the District's Strategic Plan were explained, whose overall goal is College and Career for All Students. The District's current accomplishments are most impressive, to include a notable increasing Graduation Rate in the last three years. In the last year, for California as a whole, the Academic Performance Indicator (API) for all schools increased by 8 points. This compares with the increase for LUSD schools of 23 points. For the year, 2013, LUSD produced an improvement of 12 points, which resulted in LUSD being awarded The Most improved USD in California. Other accomplishments are development of a variety of Career Pathways for students, as well as sound financial management results for the last four years.

Superintendent Gothold responded to a variety of questions from those in attendance, and he left the meeting, to attend another function, with strong applause.

Following his departure, Fernando Millan reviewed the plans for participation in the upcoming annual District picnic and boat races for Rotary youth groups that will take place on Sunday, September 14 at the Redondo Beach Seaside Lagoon.

Then Marisela Santana, Public Information Officer for the City of Lynwood, provided information on several City of Lynwood events, to include the remaining Farmer's Market events on Thursdays from 4pm to 8pm through the end of August.

Daniel Miller and Victor Ortiz, Public relations and community outreach for Lynwood Rotary