LAUSD SSC Training turns in to charter co-location complaints

    This past weekend, LAUSD held training for School Site Council members at Horace Mann Middle School.
    You might remember Horace Mann was mentioned on this blog a year ago when COW Mar Vista was offered co-location space on that campus.  COW refused the space. I wonder if it had anything to with the fact the Horace Mann is a block away from Florance and Normandiae, where the LA Riots started in 1992.
    I personally thought the school looked great.  There were awesome murals on every inch of the hallways and the LAUSD staff went out of their way to make the visit to Horrace Mann a great experience.


...you might be saying to yourself, that's great, but what does that have to with the co-location adventures today.
    Well, after getting a coffee and sitting at a table, I waited for the opening session of the training to begin. I started talking to the other parents around me and we weren't two minutes into the conversation when 2 parents began complaining about charter school co-locations at their campus. Everyone else at the table joined in an related their charter school horror stories.
   Sometimes, I think I maybe the only one who is concerned with the injustice that charter school co-locations create, but after meeting so many involved and active LAUSD parents at the training, I came to realize that the charter problem is something just about every LAUSD school is dealing with.
   Parents had various complaints from charters cherry picking students, to the loss of resources and classroom space to the separate and unequal conditions created by the charters.
   It was quite sad to hear these complaints, but it was also heartening to listen to all the parents who wanted the best for all students in LAUSD and were willing to work hard for to make this happen.