Please attend the workshops this Saturday and Monday, and tell the LASD Board the direction for facilities that you want them to take. These are the LAST of the fall/winter community engagement process meetings. Workshops dates:
- Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 9:00-11:30 AM at Egan Multi-Purpose Room
- Monday, November 4, 2019 at 6:00-8:30 PM at Blach Multi-Purpose Room
At the workshops, participants will be asked to identify their level of support for an idea based on these levels:(A) Fully support the idea
(B) Somewhat supportive of the idea
(C) Neutral
(D) Somewhat unsupportive of the idea
(E) Do not support the idea
(F) No answer
At the workshops, I know I'll share my view on the direction I'd like to see the Board take: (1) no neighborhood school closed and (2) BCS at the 10th site/North El Camino (NEC).
The Board is looking to the community for a direction through these polls, and we need to send them a clear and simple message. This means that we have to unambiguously and fully support BCS at 10th site/NEC (A), and unambiguously reject closing down any school (E).
(1) No neighborhood schools closed: Closing any school puts all schools at risk. From my perspective, any level of support (“fully”, “somewhat”, “neutral” or even “somewhat unsupportive”) for closing down any school puts every school at risk. In just the past couple of months, I’ve heard calls for closing Egan, then it was Covington, and then it was Santa Rita. There have also been calls for Almond, Gardner Bullis, Oak, Loyola, Springer, Blach. If we show any level of support for closing down any school, it means you’re giving the Board a message that closing down a neighborhood school could be okay. This means all schools are vulnerable. If I see any school as an option to be closed down, moved, shuffled around, there’s only one choice for me: “Do NOT support the idea.”
(2) Give Board direction to offer BCS the 10th site/NEC: The BCS Board has stated in a public meeting that they have never declined the 10th site/NEC because it’s never been offered to them. A primary driver for why our district started on this expedition to find a 10th site was to house BCS based on their insistence of having a contiguous, single site. While my understanding is that the district is not legally required to give them a contiguous, single site, the fact that they can have this at the 10th site/NEC makes it the only solution that works under their demands and that doesn’t require the district to disrupt a neighborhood school. If I see the option to house BCS at the 10th site/NEC, I will poll “fully support the idea.”
I want our Board to hear that they need to go back to BCS and offer the 10th site/NEC. If BCS wants a single site, then they could choose an enrollment size that will allow them to be at the 10th site/NEC. This solution is the least disruptive to our neighborhoods and gives them what they want. Additionally, it won't needlessly increase traffic by displacing a neighborhood school with a commuter school and causing a whole school community to commute more than necessary -- impacting all of our traffic.
I understand there are other tactical questions about how the 10th site/NEC would work. My view is that the workshops--along with the other community meetings--are meant to give the LASD Board a direction to take. After we have given the board direction, I’m confident they can work through the details to achieve a solution in line with that direction.
In summary here is the direction I plan on giving the LASD Board:
“Fully support”:
- BCS at the 10th site/NEC
- BCS elementary at the 10th site/NEC and junior/middle share Egan with LASD (if BCS wants to have a big school at 900-1200 students)
- Keep status quo of sharing Egan and Blach if BCS chooses an enrollment cap of 900 students (their school size last year)
“Do NOT support”:
- BCS to have exclusive use of any current LASD school site -- whether closing down, moving, shuffling around.
See you at the workshop,
Peipei
- LASD info: https://www.lasdschools.org/District/10745-Community-Engagement-on-Facilities.html