About Wiseburn Unified School District

The Wiseburn Unified School District (K-12) serves students from Hollyglen and the surrounding unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County (Del Aire and Wiseburn). About 50% of the District is located in the City of El Segundo, which contains numerous major employers, including aerospace and high tech industries as well as communications and entertainment. The area's ideal climate and close proximity to cultural and sporting events along with various shopping venues make it highly desirable.

Wiseburn is immediately south of Los Angeles International Airport and one and one-half miles east of the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by the Century Freeway on the north and divided by the San Diego Freeway running north/south. In addition to the air and auto transportation infrastructure, the Green Line Metrorail traverses the District bringing workers to the employment centers. Roughly, the District boundaries are Sepulveda Boulevard on the west, Marine Avenue on the south, Imperial Highway on the north, and Inglewood Avenue on the east.

With four district schools and five independent charter schools, Wiseburn and Da Vinci combine for a total of almost 4,500 students. During the past decade the District enrollment, which at its peak reached 2,900 pupils in the 1960's before dropping to 1,100 in the 1980's, has been growing again. Resident student enrollments have increased and been supplemented by pupils granted interdistrict attendance permits and by the launching of the charter schools. Currently, the ethnic composition of the student body is: Multiracial 6%, Asian 6%, Caucasian 17%, African-American 15%, and Latino 56%, reflective of current California demographics. Diversity, with balance, is one of Wiseburn's greatest strengths in preparing graduates for life in 21st Century California. Being both small and suburban, Wiseburn offers a unique combination of a "family atmosphere" in a opportunity-rich setting.

Dedicated Staff

Wiseburn Unified School District staff consists of ten administrative employees, 150 certificated and approximately 50 full-time classified employees, approximately 200 part-time classified employees, and supplemented by many part-time support personnel. The annual budget is approximately $29 million. In March 1997, Wiseburn voters overwhelmingly (82%) approved over $14 million in bonds to modernize school classrooms, and followed it up in June 2000, with 76% approval of $35 million more in bonds for new school construction. Full modernization of 138th Street School was completed in 1999. Construction of an entirely new Anza School was finished in Fall 2002. A brand new Dana Middle School in Hollyglen opened in 2007. Voters (83%) approved bonds to build a state of the art elementary school (Cabrillo) in June 2007. Cabrillo was completed in December 2008. Due to a declining economy and lower construction costs, there was sufficient Measure A Bond funds to add six new classrooms and a new multipurpose room/kitchen at 138th St. School to bring that school up to the same standard as the other Wiseburn Schools. 138th St. construction was completed in December 2012.

In November 2010, Wiseburn voters approved yet another school construction bond for $87 million to build Wiseburn High School. This was the first time in California history that an elementary district approved bonds to build a high school. After seven years of working with local, county and state entities, Wiseburn High School, Home of the Da Vinci high schools was opened in November 2017. A four decade community dream was realized!

Top Reputation

There is a well deserved reputation for educational excellence within the Wiseburn Unified School District. Both parents and others perceive the District as successfully offering a personalized learning process focused on mastery of basic and 21st Century skills within a safe, positive, and orderly learning environment. Acquisition of skills needed to compete in a global economy is a major thrust. Staff members are highly committed and students achieve. The staff is dedicated to maintaining high academic standards for students and continuing the tradition of pride in the District.

To complement the strong academic tradition, Wiseburn is an Arts for All District! Since 2006, Wiseburn has proudly participated in Arts for All. This Los Angeles County-wide initiative is focused on providing high quality arts education for every public school student. As a Public School Arts (P.S. Arts) District, we believe that the arts are a vital and indispensable part of the comprehensive education of every student.

Charter Schools

Da Vinci Schools and the Wiseburn Unified School District have entered into a creative district-charter partnership model uncommon in public education.

Our partnership is defined by a spirit of collaboration, trust, integrity, and mutual support, with a mission-aligned focus on doing what is in the best interests of all of the students and families we serve. Both organizations subscribe to the tenet that when adults work well together, exponentially more can be accomplished for kids.

In August 2009, Wiseburn opened two 9-12 Charter Schools, Da Vinci Science and Da Vinci Design, to offer Wiseburn families a high school option for the first time in its 121-year history.

Opened in 2011, Da Vinci Innovation Academy — now Da Vinci Connect — offers K-8 families two unique learning models that combine homeschool instruction with school-based learning.

Founded in 2013, Da Vinci Communications high school is the recipient of a prestigious Next Generation Learning Challenges grant funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundations.

Da Vinci Extension’s college pathway program, founded in 2015, builds upon the success of the Da Vinci Schools’ K-12 program, blending college, career and life to support students in their journey to becoming happy, healthy, independent adults. Da Vinci Extension offers 13th-16th grade students a path to college degree completion through its partnerships with UCLA Extension, Southern New Hampshire University, and El Camino College.

Da Vinci Design, Da Vinci Communications and Da Vinci Science provide high school students a real-world, college and career curriculum in a safe, supportive, and community-centered environment. Real-world, project based learning, career pathways, extensive industry and higher education partnerships, strong community, and diversity and access for all represent the hallmarks of the Da Vinci model.

Da Vinci Design, Da Vinci Communications and Da Vinci Science serve as Wiseburn Unified School District's "home" high schools and Wiseburn residents are guaranteed a placement at one of the schools.

Over their first 10 years, Da Vinci Schools have evolved and developed into one of the finest and most highly sought after high school options in the South Bay and beyond. Dr. David Brown, the former Executive Director of the WASC Accrediting Commission for Schools, says "Da Vinci Schools are among the very finest I've seen."

To learn more, visit Da Vinci Schools at www.davincischools.org.

(Da Vinci RISE High formally launched in fall 2017 supported by a $10 million XQ "Super School" grant to provide wraparound support to help students tackle their academic, social/emotional, and personal needs. Da Vinci RISE High is authorized by the Los Angeles County Board of Education.)

Wiseburn Child Development Center

Unification

On November 5, 2013, Wiseburn voters resoundingly approved the formation of Wiseburn Unified School District. For the first time in our 121-year history, Wiseburn offered a seamless and well articulated K-12 program for the Wiseburn and greater South Bay community. The partnership between Wiseburn Unified School District and Da Vinci Schools represents a creative approach to providing an articulated K-12 program. The four charter high school option provides the "best of both worlds". By maintaining small learning communities, like Wiseburn K-8 schools, where students are known by name and valued for their unique contributions, Da Vinci students benefit from a culture where students cannot easily "fall through the cracks." By thoughtfully adding programs available to all high school students such as CIF sports, dances/prom, music, visual and performing arts, Da Vinci students can also receive many of the more traditional high school experiences found at much larger high schools. Most large comprehensive high schools are re-thinking the effectiveness of that structure and are breaking themselves apart into "academies" and "schools within a school". At Da Vinci, our Wiseburn students already have a successful small learning community, and now a state-of-the-art building to house it all.