If you didn't make it to a previous workshop, please remember to show up TONIGHT at 6:00-6:30 PM at Egan. This is how I polled: http://bit.ly/335hr7H.
See below for more details on what will happen at the workshop and how you can support LASD neighborhood schools.
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Hi friends and neighbors, due to the overwhelming demand at the 2nd workshop in which 100+ people weren't able to participate due to the space being at capacity, the LASD Board has scheduled a third and final workshop with capacity set at 400 people so that those folks can participate. Please get there at 6:00-6:15 p.m. to ensure you get a spot.
Here are the details of the 3rd workshop:
- Date: Monday, November 18
- Time: Registration, get polling device, read materials from 6:00-6:30pm. Workshop and polling from 6:30-8:30pm.
- Where: Egan Multipurpose Room
- This is how I polled: http://bit.ly/335hr7H. As things may change, please compare the item in the polling guide with what you're actually being asked to submit your level of support for to make sure you're reviewing the same item.
- Polling options: https://www.lasdschools.org/files/user/1/file/LASD-Workshop%20PPT%20English.pdf
You'll submit your level of support with these choices:
(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 a previous workshop, I shared my view on the direction I'd like to see the Board take: (1) no neighborhood school closed solely for the benefit of BCS and (2) BCS at the 10th site/North El Camino (NEC). In short, LASD students and community should be treated fairly.
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 solely for the benefit of BCS (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 gave to 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
“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