Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, July 27, 2019

7


Mountain View News Saturday, July 27, 2019 

SCHOOL DIRECTORY

A MESSAGE FROM BRIAN MCDONALD 
SUPERINTENDENT

Dear PUSD Employees, Families, and Community,

 

 Interim Superintendent Dr. David Verdugo I hope you are having a productive and 
restful summer break. The PUSD team is busy preparing for the start of the school year so 
that our faculty, staff, and schools will be ready to welcome students when the new school 
year begins on August 12. 

 Although the start of each new school year is one of my favorite times because it is filled 
with optimism, hope, and excitement, I will have to miss this special time with you this 
year since I am scheduled for a planned surgery in late July and will be on medical leave 
recuperating for several weeks.

 Dr. David Verdugo (pictured, right) the former Superintendent of Paramount Unified 
School District and a veteran leader who has served more than 43 years in K-12 education 
and mentored and coached aspiring superintendents across the country, will lend his 
experience and expertise in guiding PUSD until I return.

 Dr. Verdugo’s leadership as interim superintendent will be invaluable as we resolve 
important issues facing our school district at one of the busiest times of the school year. 
He will support our Executive Leadership Team, which will be led by Chief Academic 
Officer Dr. Elizabeth Blanco.

 I am so proud of our team and the thoughtful and caring way they are preparing to 
welcome students back to school.

 My family and I truly appreciate your well wishes and kind thoughts during this time. I 
will see you soon!

Sincerely,

Brian McDonald, Ed.D.

Superintendent

Alverno Heights Academy

200 N. Michillinda Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3463 Head of School: Julia V. Fanara

E-mail address: jfanara@alvernoheights.org

Arcadia High School

180 Campus Drive Arcadia, CA 91007

Phone: (626) 821-8370, Principal: Brent Forsee

bforsee@ausd.net

Arroyo Pacific Academy

41 W. Santa Clara St. Arcadia, Ca, 

(626) 294-0661 Principal: Phil Clarke

E-mail address: pclarke@arroyopacific.org

Barnhart School

240 W. Colorado Blvd Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 446-5588 

Head of School: Ethan Williamson

Kindergarten - 8th grade

website: www.barnhartschool.org

Bethany Christian School

93 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-3527 

Preschool-TK-8th Grade

Principal: Dr. William Walner

website: www. bcslions.org

Clairbourn School

8400 Huntington Drive

San Gabriel, CA 91775

Phone: 626-286-3108 ext. 172

FAX: 626-286-1528

E-mail: jhawes@clairbourn.org

Foothill Oaks Academy

822 E. Bradbourne Ave., Duarte, CA 91010

(626) 301-9809

Principal: Nancy Lopez

www.foothilloaksacademy.org

office@foothilloaksacademy.org

Frostig School

971 N. Altadena Drive Pasadena, CA 91107

(626) 791-1255

Head of School: Jenny Janetzke

Email: jenny@frostig.org

The Gooden School

192 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-2410 

Head of School, Jo-Anne Woolner

website: www.goodenschool.org

High Point Academy

1720 Kinneloa Canyon Road 

Pasadena, Ca. 91107 

Head of School: Gary Stern 626-798-8989

website: www.highpointacademy.org

La Salle College Preparatory

3880 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 351-8951 website: www.lasallehs.org

Principal Mrs. Courtney Kassakhian

Monrovia High School

325 East Huntington Drive, Monrovia, CA 91016 

(626) 471-2800 Principal Darvin Jackson

Email: schools@monrovia.k12.ca.us

Odyssey Charter School

725 W. Altadena Dr. Altadena, Ca. 91001

(626) 229-0993 Head of School: Lauren O’Neill

website: www.odysseycharterschool.org

Pasadena High School

2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Pasadena, Ca. 

(626) 396-5880 Principal: Roberto Hernandez

website: http://phs.pusd.us

St. Rita Catholic School

322 N. Baldwin Ave. Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

Principal Joan Harabedian (626) 355-9028 

website: www.st-rita.org

Sierra Madre Elementary School

141 W. Highland Ave, Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 355-1428 Principal: Lindsay Lewis

E-mail address: lewis.lindsay@pusd.us

Sierra Madre Middle School 

160 N. Canon Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

(626) 836-2947 Principal: Garrett Newsom

E-mail address: newsom.garrett@pusd.us

Walden School

74 S San Gabriel Blvd

Pasadena, CA 91107 (626) 792-6166 

www.waldenschool.net

Weizmann Day School

1434 N. Altadena Dr. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 797-0204

Lisa Feldman: Head of School

Wilson Middle School

300 S. Madre St. Pasadena, Ca. 91107

(626) 449-7390 Principal: Ruth Esseln

E-mail address: resseln@pusd.us

Pasadena Unified School District

351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena, Ca. 91109

(626) 396-3600 Website: www.pusd@pusd.us

Arcadia Unified School District

234 Campus Dr., Arcadia, Ca. 91007

(626) 821-8300 Website: www.ausd.net

Monrovia Unified School District

325 E. Huntington Dr., Monrovia, Ca. 91016

(626) 471-2000 

Website: www.monroviaschools.net

Duarte Unified School District

1620 Huntington Dr., Duarte, Ca. 91010

(626)599-5000 

Website: www.duarte.k12.ca.us

Arcadia Christian School

1900 S. Santa Anita Avenue Arcadia, CA 91006

Preschool - and TK - 8th Grade

626-574-8229/626-574-0805

Email: inquiry@acslions.com

Principal: Cindy Harmon

website: www.acslions.com


FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


MORE ON THE LIFETIME ASSET 
PROTECTION TRUST – YES, IT’S THAT BIG 
OF A DEAL

Last week, I discussed the general benefits of a unique estate planning 
vehicle known as a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust (LAPT). This is an 
important enough estate planning tool that I want to dive in a little deeper 
this week. 

LAPTs are primarily designed to protect your loved ones and 
their inheritance from threats, such as divorce, serious debt, 
devastating illness, and unfortunate accidents. At the same time, 
LAPTs can provide your heirs with a unique educational opportunity in which they gain valuable 
experience managing and growing their inheritance, while enjoying airtight asset protection. 
Safeguarding your children’s inheritance
If you’re like most people, you hope to leave an inheritance for your children. Indeed, it may even be one of the 
primary motivations driving your life’s work. Yet if you don’t take the proper precautions, the wealth you pass down 
can easily be lost or squandered. And in certain cases, the inheritance can even end up doing more harm than good. 
When it comes to leaving an inheritance, most lawyers will advise you to place the money in a trust, which 
is the right thing to do. However, not every lawyer goes past a basic distribution of the trust assets outright 
to your loved ones at specific ages, such as one-third at 25, half of the balance at 35, and the rest at 40. Check 
your own trust now to see if it does this or something similar. 


But giving outright ownership of the trust assets in this way puts everything you’ve worked so hard to leave 
behind at risk. While a trust may protect your loved ones’ inheritance as long as the assets are held by the 
trust, once the assets are disbursed to the beneficiary, they can be lost to future creditors, a catastrophic 
accident or illness, divorce, bankruptcy, or a major lawsuit. 


Rather than risking their inheritance by leaving it outright to your children at certain ages or following 
certain life events, such as graduating college, you can gift your assets to your children at the time of your 
death using an LAPT. When you gift an inheritance to your kids via an LAPT, the trust owns the assets, not 
your children.

Therefore, if your kids ever get divorced, file bankruptcy, have a major medical issue, or are ordered to pay 
damages in a lawsuit, they can’t lose their inheritance because they never owned it in the first place. An LAPT 
can be built into a revocable living trust, which becomes irrevocable at the time of your death and holds your 
loved one’s inheritance in continued trust for their lifetime.

A trustee of your choice manages the trust assets upon your death. Because the LAPT is discretionary, this 
individual has the power to distribute the assets at their own discretion, instead of being required to release 
them in a rigid structure. This discretionary power enables the trustee to control when and how your kids can 
access their inheritance, so they’re not only protected from outside threats like ex-spouses and creditors, but 
from their own poor judgment as well.

And if you’re afraid that a trustee would keep your beneficiary from using the trust assets, you can build in 
protections to ensure your beneficiary has flexible use, unless there would be a significant risk of loss if he or she 
did. You can even allow your beneficiaries to become Co-Trustees and then sole Trustees of their own LAPT.
And contrary to what some might think, LAPTs are not just for the mega wealthy. In fact, the asset 
protection they provide is even more valuable for those leaving behind a modest inheritance. With 
less money to pass on, it’s much more likely that the inheritance could be totally wiped out by a single 
unfortunate event, as opposed to a much larger inheritance, which might survive even multiple mishaps. 
An educational opportunity

Additionally, you can use an LAPT as a unique way to educate your children about investing, charitable 
giving, and even running a business. This is done by adding provisions into the trust allowing the beneficiary 
to become co-trustee of the trust with a person you’ve chosen and trust to support their education. 
In this way, the beneficiary would become co-trustee at a predetermined age or stage of life and be able to 
use and control the trust assets under the supervision of the other co-trustee you’ve named to guide them. 
You can even allow the beneficiary to become sole trustee later in life, once he or she has been properly 
educated and is ready to assume full control. As sole trustee, the beneficiary would be able to resign and 
replace themselves with an independent trustee, if necessary, to provide the ultimate asset protection. 
A priceless gift
If you wish to protect your child’s inheritance from all possible threats, while incentivizing them to invest 
and grow the money rather than squander and waste it, consider including a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust 
in your plan for the ones you love. Indeed, the trust’s highly flexible structure, combined with its bulletproof 
asset protection make it one of the most valuable gifts you can give your loved ones.

The point is, there are several different ways your trust can be structured to meet your 
family’s unique needs, which is why it’s so important to explore what options might 
be best for your particular situation before simply executing a “one-size-fits-all” trust.
Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on a mission to help parents protect what they love

most. His office is located at 55 Auburn Avenue, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an

appointment to sit down and talk about ensuring a legacy of love and financial security for your

family by calling 626.355.4000 or visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more information.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com