Hawthorne, CA

This is a continuation of a series of blog postings on the communities in the Wiseburn school district in Hawthorne - Wiseburn, Holly Glen, and Del Aire.

Schools in the Wiseburn School District have always served their communities well, providing a highly rated education to these tight knit, bedroom communities of Wiseburn, Holly Glen, and Del Aire of the city of Hawthorne. Many children have passed through the hallways of Wiseburn's schools, along with their children, and even grandchildren.

Wiseburn's schools accomplished what they were built for, but they were definitely old. Back in the late nineties, the community agreed to fund the replacement of their three oldest schools, Dana Middle School, Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, and Juan de Anza Elementary School. In doing this, 3 out of 4 of the Wiseburn School District's schools are all currently less than 10 years old!

Construction began first with Juan de Anza Elementary School in 2000, and the school was completed in 2002. The result was a larger, modern, elementary school with an on-site pre-school and after-school childcare run by Rainbow River. Juan de Anza serves children from Kindergarten to 5^th grade. In 2000 and 2004, Juan de Anza was recognized as a California Distinguished School, a prestigious honor they are very proud of.

Dana Middle School was the next school to be replaced, but it would be a few more years before they would get to it. But in the summer of 2007, students were excited to enter through the brand new doors of this state-of-the-art, $36 million dollar facility. Dana Middle School has also been named a California Distinguished School - a distinction that is valid for 4 years. In 2006, after meeting strict new state and federal guidelines, Dana Middle School was once again named as a California Distinguished School.

Almost immediately upon completion of the new Dana Middle School, the old Dana Middle School was converted [temporarily] into the new home for Juan Cabrillo Elementary students for the 2007-2008 school year, while construction began on the new Juan Cabrillo Elementary school in the same location as the old school. Thus far, construction is on schedule and under budget, with an expectation to complete construction in the middle of the 2008-2009 school year. Students, parents, and community members anxiously await the opening of their final community school.

Of course, we cannot forget Peter Burnett school, which educates kids from grades 3-5. It is located right next door to Dana Middle School, making the transition for students going from Peter Burnett in 5^th grade, to Dana Middle School in 6^th grade a little easier. Peter Burnett itself is a fairly young school with modern facilities and a large campus.

The schools of the Wiseburn School District are truly community schools, with many local residents and businesses supporting them. Chevron donated $25,000 to the Dana Middle School for Smart Classroom Technology. Parents have a strong influence and drive a very successful PTA for each of the schools, supporting numerous educational programs to supplement each child's basic education.

In an age when education is being cut back, the communities of the Wiseburn school district have shown that education is of the utmost importance to them. This community is sure to continue its forward momentum in popularity, largely due to others wanting to be able to offer this to their children. Contact me for more information on the communities of Wiseburn - Wiseburn, Holly Glen, and Del Aire.

Copyright 2008 Tiffany Wilson. All rights reserved.

This is a continuation of a series of blog postings on the communities in the Wiseburn school district in Hawthorne - Wiseburn, Holly Glen, and Del Aire.

The Wiseburn Public Library is almost literally the center of the communities of the Wiseburn school district. Though the area it serves is small in comparison to some of the larger libraries, like the ones in Manhattan Beach or Redondo Beach, the library is always bustling with activity during peak times. Many families, seniors, and school children are drawn to this quaint library with a large community heart.

Located at 5335 West 135^th Street in Hawthorne, this county library is conveniently located right next to where the new Juan Cabrillo Elementary school is being built, and also less than a mile from Peter Burnett and Dana Middle schools. Because of this ideal placement, it draws a large number of after school kids looking for homework help, project research, and to use the publicly available computers.

The library also holds many weekly children's events which draw a regular - and growing - crowd of kids and parents. Every Saturday at 10:00 am is storybook time, followed by a fun craft for the kids. On Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm, kids in their nighttime wear crowd onto the A-B-C rug to listen at Pajama Storybook Time. For new (and not-so-new) families in the area, attending either of these educational and fun events is a great way to meet other families in the community.

On top of these regularly scheduled events, the Wiseburn library also schedules some special treats at different times of the year. There is a day dedicated to Dr Seuss on his birthday, where - you guessed it - they read all Dr. Seuss books. Christmas is special, as the big man himself, Santa Claus, makes a special stop to greet the children of Hawthorne.

Summertime is no exception. Though school is out and the "boob tube" -watching time is on the rise, the Wiseburn library presents some stiff competition with special guests like a portable petting zoo, magicians, humongo-bubble makers, and many more. They also hold a reading contest, publicly logging young readers' progress throughout the summer, and rewarding every reader.

The Wiseburn Library is also host to a book club that meets on a regular basis. This group of intelligent folks read some of the recently-talked-of literature, and then do some of it themselves at the library. The only requirement for joining this club is a thirst for reading!

Though this library is small, it does have a wide variety of media available to all patrons of the Los Angeles County Public Library. Available are a wide selection of children's books, fact and fiction, CDs, DVDs, and VHS. Several computers are also available for accessing the Internet, and most recently, free Wi-Fi is available to folks with laptops that have wireless Ethernet cards.

But the icing on the cake at this library is the folks working there. Many of them have been working at the library for years, and are as much a part of the community as the folks that live here. Library patrons are warmly greeted as they come in the front double-doors, "early-birds" are rewarded with stickers as they arrive for Storybook Time, and if you are nice enough, they may even waive late fees for you (I know this for a fact!).

So if you are new to the neighborhood - or even if you have been here for years - take a trip to the Wiseburn Public Library in Hawthorne, and tell them I said "hi".

Copyright 2008 Tiffany Wilson. All rights reserved.

I want to share with you all an amazing, and not-so-well-known area of the South Bay called Wiseburn. I actually live in Wiseburn, which is a small subdivision of Hawthorne, and I have been here for 9 years. I absolutely love it! This small community has continually improved since I moved here, and become a great place to buy in the South Bay, without paying Manhattan Beach prices.

Now, to be honest though, if one is to talk about Wiseburn, the conversation must include the adjacent subdivisions of Holly Glen and Del Aire. These are all small communities within Hawthorne, which reside on the Western border of Hawthorne. All 3 areas comprise the Wiseburn school district, which has some exciting things happening right now (stay tuned for future blog postings on Wiseburn schools).

The communities of the Wiseburn school district are conveniently located near several other beach cities of the South Bay - Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo. From anywhere in the Wiseburn school district, you can get to any of these cities within approximately 2 miles. There, you will find major retailers such as Home Depot, Costco, Best Buy, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Staples, and many more.

The communities of the Wiseburn school district are also strategically placed, with regard to major transportation routes. This offers extreme accessibility to other parts of the South Bay, and beyond. However, even though these major routes are very accessible, there is little negative impact on homeowners (like noise, visual blight, etc.)

As mentioned previously, the Wiseburn school district has some new and exciting things going on. At the beginning of this past school year, the brand, new Dana Middle School was opened and ready to educated the middle-school-aged youth of the Wiseburn school district. But in addition to that, work is currently underway in the construction of a brand new elementary school, Juan Cabrillo's replacement. As a mom with young children, I am excited to see these brand new facilities that my children will be able to take advantage of.

Also new within the last few years is Glasgow Park, a long, walking park where the folks of Wiseburn and Holly Glen often go to exercise or walk their dogs. The area where Glasgow Park now is used to be an abandoned area full of weeds and broken concrete. Not so anymore!

And speaking of parks, you will also find Holly Glen Park which has a great children's playground, picnic benches, barbecues, and even public tennis courts. Many local families frequent this park throughout the year, and especially in the summertime when they fill up the wading pool for all the little kiddies to splash around in.

Even though the communities of the Wiseburn school district are small, they have so much to offer. I hope you enjoyed this introduction to the communities, and I plan on posting many followups where I will focus on each of the great aspects of these communities, along with some pictures! Hey - we all love pics, don't we?

Truth IS stranger than fiction! This past weekend, I was out for my morning walk in the Holly Glen area of Hawthorne - a beautiful, crisp morning. Holly Glen is a unique, small, hidden gem in the South Bay which consists of mostly owner-residing, single family homes. It has 3 excellent, award-winning schools: 1 which is less than a year old (Dana), another which is less than 20 years old (Burnett), and a third under construction (Juan Cabrillo). An excellent place for families with school age kids.

Anyways, it was pretty early, so I could only see one other person on the walking path. But there was something else that I saw which I did not expect. (Cue the shocking music...)

THE CHICKEN!

Yes, the chicken was on the loose. I have no clue where it came from - maybe it made a brave escape from the back of a truck which was headed for some market.

But, no matter where it came from, this chicken knew it was free, and it was going to do whatever it wanted!

For a while, it just pecked around, scurrying away as I neared it, my curiousity urging me to take a closer look.

Then, it actually began to follow me for a short bit, worrying me a few times as it broke from a chicken-walk to a chicken-trot. Has anyone ever been mauled by a chicken?

Finally, I guess I bored it, and it took the final act of chicken-defiance:

It crossed the road!

Have a great week! By the way, this story is true in its entirety. I hope you get a kick out of it like I did.