Inglewood High Students' Planned Walk-Out Over District Spending Thwarted By Police
INGLEWOOD (CBSLA.com) — A planned walk-out at Inglewood High School over how the cash-strapped district is spending money was thwarted by police on Wednesday.
KCAL9's Dave Lopez reported that hundreds of students were upset over a report that the Inglewood Unified School District, which was taken over by the state in 2012 and given a $55 million loan, sent principals and administrators to the Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa in San Diego at a cost of more than $38,000.
"We were gonna walk out, but they stopped us. They're denying our rights to us," a male student said. "We don't like the fact that they did this to us. We need books, we need repairs, we need field trips."
"We need some new books and some new desks," another student added.
Lopez reported that at least 175 officers from three different agencies were at the school to make sure nothing went wrong.
"There was no force used by the officers. There has been no reports of injuries from the student body or administration," Inglewood police Lt. Jacqueline Layne said.
Don Brann, who runs the district on behalf of the state, said he also wasn't happy with how the district chose to spend its money.
"I'm upset about it, too. I think it was a misuse of taxpayer funds. It's the kind of thing that brought me to this district," he said.
Brann said he didn't know about the junket. By the time he found out, it was too late to cancel.
"We're going to control signatures on contracts and be in closer touch with anybody who could be in a position to make this type of decision," he said.
