• Athletics
  • Big Ed
  • Ed Tech
  • Educators
  • Elections
  • Federal Policy
  • Parents
  • Students
  • The Testing Industry

K-12 News Network's The Wire

K-12 News Network: People-Powered Public Education News

  • Budgets
  • Charter Schools
  • Federal Policy
  • School Districts
  • State Education Law
  • School Boards
You are here: Home / Charter Schools / Putting Lipstick on the Prop 39 Pig

Putting Lipstick on the Prop 39 Pig

June 24, 2016 by Carl J. Petersen

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

On June 21, 2016, the LAUSD School Board debated a resolution co-sponsored by Ref Rodriguez and Monica Garcia that would establish an “impartial group of District and charter school leaders” to make recommendations on improving “the process around successful co-locations”. Under the Improving the Policies and Practices Impacting Co-Located Public Schools resolution, the Superintendent would be required to consider these recommendations “for implementation in the Fall of 2016”. The following is a copy of my comments to the Board before they began debate:

 

Addressing the BoardI’ve never heard a parent say “gee, I really hope that a charter co-locates at our campus next year.” Usually when a parent finds out that there is going to be a charter looking at that campus, they look at it like a parasite is looking to move into a host. They are concerned that it is going to divide their school community. They are concerned about overcrowding. They are concerned that it is just going to ruin the feel of a neighborhood school. Yet this resolution says: “Proposition 39 presents an opportunity for charter schools and traditional District schools to collaborate by sharing resources that benefit all public school students.”

“Opportunity.” Kind of reminds me of a lyric from a song in my youth: “You say it’s raining, but you’re pissin’ down my back.”

Then to add insult to injury, it calls for an “impartial group of District and charter school leaders” to formulate suggestions for the Superintendent to implement. “Impartial”, so anybody who is against these co-locations won’t have a say in what is happening. That doesn’t seem right.

Then it pushes for “multi-year occupancies” by these charter schools. So now a parent who is concerned about what is going to happen and finds that their fears come true are going to get stuck with a multi-year occupancy. That doesn’t sound like parental engagement to me.

I realize that the California Charter School Association spends a lot of money to put people on this Board, but this Board is supposed to represent the students of the LAUSD. Therefore, I think that you should reject this resolution and present one that protects the students of the LAUSD.

It should provide for a group that offers alternatives to co-locations, including looking at changing the law.

It also should also encourage the Charter School Division to be more proactive in how they oversee these schools. Right now we have El Camino where their Principal took off with $125,000 in expenses on the  school’s credit card, including buying airline tickets for his moonlighting job. We have Granada Hills Charter High School who borrowed $600,000 from their Associated Student Body account without any authorization. Whatever happened to that PUC investigation?

The Board needs to start protecting this District and look at these charter schools like the adversaries that they are. Eli Broad is looking to pour more  resources into making more charter schools, which threatens the District with bankruptcy. We need to stop rubber-stamping every charter school that comes along and demand real accountability.

 

After debating the subject, the Board voted 5-2-0 to approve the resolution. George McKenna and Scott Schmerelson provided the “no” votes.

____________________________________________

I am a candidate for the District 2 seat on the LAUSD School Board, founder of Change The LAUSD and member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. You can voice your support for my campaign through DFA. Opinions are my own.

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrssyoutube

Filed Under: Charter Schools, LAUSD, Los Angeles, State Education Law Tagged With: California Charter School Association, charter schools, co-location, LAUSD, Proposition 39

About Carl J. Petersen

Carl is a parent and special education advocate, elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and was a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race. During the campaign, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action and Dr. Diane Ravitch called him a “strong supporter of public schools.” Opinions are his own.

Comments

  1. Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene says

    June 26, 2016 at 4:41 pm

    Excellent report back from that meeting. Your perspective as a parent is important, because it is public school families that are faced with the horrors of Prop 39 occupations (colocations) by revenue hungry charter schools.

Sign up for our newsletter

* indicates required
Email Format

Buy a hybrid Facebook+ website today!

Federal Policy

Quick Education Voter’s Guide to the California CD34 Race, April 4, 2017

There are twenty-three candidates running to fill former Congressman Xavier Bacerra’s seat in Congressional District 34 in Southern California. (Bacerra is currently the state’s Attorney General, replacing Kamala Harris, who, after November 8, 2016, became our US Senator.) Election Day is Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. You can find your polling […]

Betsy DeVos, #NOTMYSDOE

Take the pledge to #resist and fight for public schools as a public good TODAY. DeVos had to have the assistance of Vice President Mike Pence’s unprecedented tie-breaking vote in order to win her confirmation. Two GOP Senators voted against, all Democratic Senators voted against. Yet all the other GOP Senators who received campaign donations […]

Next #DemDebate MUST Include K-12 Education Policy

The next #DemDebate is scheduled for the important primary state of Iowa on November 14, 2015. It’ll be broadcast by CBS in partnership with the Des Moines Register. Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig is leading the call for the families of 50 million students K-12 across the nation and the communities they live in to have […]

More Posts from this Category

K12NN on Blog Talk Radio

Online Politics Progressive Radio at Blog Talk Radio with MOMocrats on BlogTalkRadio

Categories

June 2016
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« May   Jul »

Copyright © 2022 · The Wire Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in