LYNWOOD — From the inauguration of the country’s first Black president to the welcomed presence of county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in the Second District, 2009’s headlines here featured a little bit of everything.

As the year comes to a close, headlines about a fence finally being put up across the street from an elementary school, foreclosures in Lynwood being at an all-time high, the grand opening of a long-awaited park taking place or the tragic killing of a beloved city employee at City Hall topped the news at one time or another. But looking back, it was headlines over the turmoil in the Lynwood Unified School District that seemed to overwhelm what will be remembered from 2009.

The district definitely had its ups, including when Lynwood High School teacher Ana Higuera was named a Milken Family Foundation Award recipient recently and when middle school students took home awards at regional decathlon competitions in Orange County. But unfortunately, those grand accolades weren’t the headlines that defined 2009 in the district.

That honor would go to the district’s innumerable lows, starting with a controversial 3-1 vote to reconfigure district boundaries that would wipe out continuity at any of the schools, leaving some elementary schools students from kindergarten to fifth grade, and others serving kindergarten through sixth grade, one high school serving ninth through 12 grade and another serving 10th through 12th grade, and some middle schools serving sixth through eighth grades and others serving seventh through ninth.

Because of changes in the district’s demographics, the inconsistencies between the schools was necessary, according to a consultant the board hired back in 2008.

Looming over the district for years, turmoil in the district finally hit the fan in 2009 as school board members realized the district was going under due to gross deficit spending. But time wasn’t all that ran out. So did the district’s general funds.

The county’s District Assistant Intervention Team stepped in to oversee the district when its state Academic Performance Index score came back at 666. A 300-page report by the team also exposed problems that may have gotten the district to where it is — problems the county is currently trying to fix.

By April, teachers knew they had gotten the short end of the stick. Years of saving teachers’ jobs when other districts were making drastic cuts, had finally caught up to LUSD. And even though some of the unions agreed to four furlough days, 191 teachers still got layoff notices.

More problems arose when teachers accused the district of not knowing seniority even if it slapped them in the face. Then in mid-April, 43 layoff notices were rescinded. But when news that funds from the state weren’t coming, the district had to take back those rescinded letters. And when June came, the board voted to layoff 78 teachers.

The teachers union, which had its own problems throughout the year, then negotiated a 3 percent cut for all of its members to save those jobs from being cut. The decision was put to a member vote and it prevailed, but many in the membership disagreed with the election’s process saying it was rushed through. While having to take a 3 percent cut to save their colleagues’ jobs is the biggest gesture anybody could make, it may not make a difference because more cuts are on the way.

The district is now operating with a $26.4 million deficit. That number is expected to reach $50 million in 2010-11.

In all of this, as the district celebrated the first graduating class of Firebaugh High School, the district was finding itself navigating through a tidal wave of panic over the arrest of one of its administrators, Jonas Silverio, the principal at Firebaugh.

Maneuvering through the news with trepidation, school board members in May placed Silverio on administrative leave upon hearing the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau was involved. Eventually, Silverio resigned. He was arrested in July.

He pleaded not guilty, but is now facing 18 counts of committing lewd acts on children. In October, two former Firebaugh students, along with three other former students of Silverio at other schools, testified against him. A public defender was assigned to the former principal, and a trial date is now pending.

Dhyan Lal, the district’s superintendent, was also placed under a microscope. After years of questioning his leadership and alleged wrongdoings, parents and teachers finally got their wish in August when school board members decided it was time for a change. But his contract, in which he helped to etch in stone with the help of a law firm still contracted by the school district, didn’t allow for a change. Though officially relieved of his duties as superintendent, he’s still on the district’s payroll for another year for $17,000 a month.

The five-member school board is also being held to answer for the district being on the brink of destruction. Some of them signed off on Lal’s $250,000 a year contract. The county’s probe, along with a second audit conducted by a state agency hired by the five school board members, have revealed actual dollars that were misspent, misused or misappropriated.

Despite more and more parents working together for the better of all Lynwood children — including the formation of a new parent group called African-American Parents for Academic Excellence — turmoil in the district still lingers in different corners. Teacher and principal behavior is now under scrutiny as investigations are under way. Some for hitting students. Some for threatening students. Some for inappropriate behavior with students. And some for just not doing their jobs.

The school board is being led by an acting superintendent, but members vow to do their best to make things right, including hiring a permanent superintendent who will help make those changes. The acting superintendent isn’t interested in the permanent job.

Even though some of his tactics and past are being questioned, his management in keeping the district afloat is working. The board should probably look to a new policy LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines is putting together to get rid of the bad apples in the district.

While change is desperately needed at the district level, voters didn’t seem to think so when Nov. 3 came along. Voters re-elected Alfonso Morales and Rachel Chavez to the school board. And two weeks ago, Jose Luis Solache was re-elected school board president for his second consecutive year. The changes the district needs will still come, the board members promise.

Things on the other side of Bullis Road have been pretty quiet this year. The city manager and City Council members continue to clean up debris left over from years past. Old contracts are finally being put up for bids. Trees are being cut on time. Homes are being built with the humanitarian efforts of Habitat for Humanity.

The city’s first senior housing complex is now being lived in. Residents are enjoying their brand new park. Water rate increases were deferred for another year. And surveillance cameras are aiding the Sheriff’s Department in policing the city.

Most importantly, crime is the lowest its been in 25 years. Prostitution has been curbed and so far there have been two homicides this year.

The city’s first homicide happened in the city’s own back yard. Adolfo Medina a 31-year city employee, was found shot to death in the city’s public works yard on the morning of July 1. The suspect in this case is still at large. City Council members named a new playground in honor of Medina.

On Nov. 3, a heated City Council race also resulted in the re-election of all three incumbents. In the end, it was a tight race between Councilman Ramon Rodriguez and former City Treasurer Iris Pygatt by mere votes that resulted in Rodriguez being re-elected by two votes.

Pygatt would have joined Maria Santillan and Aide Castro as the first woman majority in Lynwood’s history.

The city has had to make more than $6.2 million in cuts over the last two years, and finds itself having to operate within its means.

Residents came out in full support of the city’s first ever Cash for Chunkers weight loss challenge. With more than 100 participants in what was also called the Mayor’s Waist Stimulus Package, 42 teams battled to the finish line and lost a combined 1,541 pounds. The winning team was called the Fantastic 4 and included city employees Bruno Naulls, Roger Haley, Jamel Goodloe and Jose Trejo. They lost 16 percent of their weight each. The individual grand prize winner was Alfonso Morales Sr.

The most recent headline to cause alarm was published last week when it was learned that an appeals court had ruled in favor of Angeles Fields Partners — the developer behind the infamous NFL project that would have uprooted more than 1,000 families from the city’s northeast area. Previous council members awarded an exclusive negotiating agreement to the developer before being officially unseated by a recall election that ousted four of them. An injunction put a halt to the last-minute amendments and newly seated council members canceled the contract.

The developer took the city to court and lost. He appealed the decision and a few weeks ago it was learned that the state’s Second District Appellate Court ruled in his favor. The city is planning on counter appealing.