Inglewood Unified School District

Caroline Coleman, board president of the Inglewood Unified School District, died Saturday at her home in Inglewood after what her family said was a long illness. She was 51. Mrs. Coleman, who was also a county probation officer, was appointed to the Inglewood school board in 1979 and won election to the board twice. At the time of her death, she was seeking a third term and had won 44% of the vote in a primary election April 4. She was facing a runoff election in June. In 1986, she won dismissal in Superior Court of embezzlement charges brought in connection with expense accounts filed as a school board member.

Centinela Health Care Foundation has awarded $1.2 million in grants to six community health care projects that benefit indigent children in Inglewood, Hawthorne and Lennox. The nonprofit health care foundation awarded the $200,000 grants to the Freeman Hospitals Foundation to establish a plastic surgery unit at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital for children and the Inglewood Unified School District for the expansion of its school nurse program. The Children's Dental Center also received funds.

The Inglewood educators wanted an honest report card and they got it: staff morale from kindergarten through high school is low, the curriculum has various inadequacies and the district is plagued by poor classroom instruction. On top of that, students in half of the district's 12 elementary schools are falling short of national and state standards when it comes to reading and language. The American Assn.

A group of parents committed to reforming Inglewood Unified School District has presented its plan: more accountability, fewer Guess jeans. Among the 12 recommendations the group gave the school board is a plan to hold principals and administrators accountable for how they spend school money. The group also recommended requiring uniforms for the district's students. Officials at the year-round district plan to implement the uniform proposal by July 1, said Assistant Supt. Lowell Winston.

Members of a union representing classified staff held a lunchtime rally Wednesday, protesting the wages paid to employees of the Inglewood Unified School District. The California Professional Employees Local 2345 represents more than 650 custodians, office workers, food service workers, instructional aides, police and maintenance workers. District workers have not had a pay raise for 2 1/2 years.

Three Inglewood Unified School District administrators have been granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the district from demoting or reassigning them. It is the second time that employees have sued the district in the last week. Debra Tate and Karen Peters, both assistant principals at Inglewood High School, joined Director of Special Services Hollis Dillon in filing the motion earlier this week.

The union that represents nonteaching employees in the Inglewood Unified School District has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the school board that alleges that their 6% raise has been delayed because the board did not conduct negotiations properly. The board and the union reached a tentative agreement on a 6% raise in April.

A man who apparently shot his girlfriend to death Friday morning in Pomona and then fled the house with another woman as captive shot himself to death after his car crashed in Inglewood, police said. James W. Jackson, 28, of Inglewood killed himself as a police officer from the Inglewood Unified School District approached his wrecked car at Florence Avenue near Cedar Street at 4:15 a.m.

The Inglewood Unified School District has another scandal brewing. John Rabun, principal for 10 years of the Inglewood Adult School, has been charged by the District Attorney's office with embezzling $27,000 to put a down payment on a $425,000 Ladera Heights home. Rabun was arrested Tuesday, released on $27,000 bail and charged Thursday with one count of grand theft and one count of embezzlement.

George McKenna, the Los Angeles principal whose tough-but-compassionate approach to inner-city education inspired a movie and recognition from President Reagan, has been offered the job of superintendent of the Inglewood Unified School District. Inglewood school board members announced Monday night that they had selected McKenna, 47, from among nine finalists. McKenna, principal of Washington Preparatory High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, was an early favorite for the post.