ICEF Vista breaks rules and puts campus safety at risk

ICEF Vista uses unsecured canopy in violation of school safety rules

Little did I realized that the incident about ICEF Vista smuggling items on to the Stoner Avenue Elementary School campus would result in a second complaint.
  For quite a while now, ICEF Vista has been using a canopy shade all over campus.

   What's the problem with that?

    Well, last year, Stoner ES parents met with LAUSD officials to discuss shade options for the campus like trees, overhangs and canopies.  One of the things that parents were told was that due to safety reasons, canopies could not be used on campus. The structures were not secured and could easily blow over and hurt someone. It might sound ridiculous, but them's the rules and everyone on campus needs to abide by the rules for the safety of all.

    Yet, for quite sometime ICEF has been following its own rules and has used the canopy not only in the ICEF lunch area, as pictured, but also in the play yard where the danger of this unsecured structure blowing over and hurting someone was even greater.

ICEF Vista canopy since September

    A col-located charter school should not be able to put people on campus in danger to have a special advantage over the regular school.
      Even something as simple as shade is a resource that should be evenly distributed. The ICEF side of campus should not have special privileges to make their own rules.

ICEF board meeting Oct 15 - $200K for lawyers, 3 expulsions & a gun on campus

On October 15, I attended the monthly ICEF Board meeting to complain about issues related to the co-location at Stoner.

ICEF Home office reception

When I arrived the meeting was still in closed session. I took a seat in the waiting area. As I waited, one ICEF parent began complaining loudly that she had requested a copy of the agenda the previous week from ICEF CEO Parker Hudnut, but received no response. She was quite indignant and decided not to stay for the meeting.

    As I continued to wait, another ICEF parent complained to ICEF staff member Linda Christiansen regarding an incident where a gun was brought on to an ICEF campus. Linda looked at me and then told the parent not to say the name of the school because she already knew what incident she was talking about. Linda mentioned that the school was not randomly "wanding" the students like they were supposed to. The parent said she was very concerned, but oddly did not bring this up at the meeting.

    The actual meeting was pretty dull. It started with ICEF summarizing the closed door session. In the closed session, ICEF Board approved to expel 3 students.  This was only a few week into the school year. I wondered if this had anything to do with the gun on campus.
    The meeting continued and at one point, ICEF mentioned that they were setting aside $200,000 for legal fees for this year. I don't know if the amount was mentioned to put me on notice, but all it did was give me a minimum suggested budget.

ICEF Board Meeting October 15, 2015

    At the end of the meeting was the public comments section. During my comments, the ICEF Board sat and listened but did not seemed to care at all what I was saying. It just looked like they wanted me to hurry up and finish so the meeting would end.

    End it did, and I was just left with more questions. So, I have been submitting more public records act requests in search of answers.

ICEF co-location traffic woes

ICEF Vista co-location brings traffic and safety issues:
4 cars enter the intersection of Stoner and Lindblade,
all four corners are coned off by ICEF

During the previous co-location, traffic and safety in the neighborhoods were the issues that initially alerted local residents to the problem of charter school co-location.

   We are once again seeing the same traffic and safety issues with the co-location of ICEF Vista.  ICEF parents are blocking crosswalks, parking in front of fire hydrants and generally bringing the same parking and safety issues as the previous co-location.
  The growing frustration with the parking situation has already led to some confrontations between ICEF and local residents, including an ugly incident I reported on where an ICEF parent hurled a racial slur at a neighbor.

  The first month of school was great. The parking in front of my house was always open and I had no traffic on my street. Those first few weeks, I would see the ICEF Principal or Vice Principal standing out on our street instructing ICEF parents not to drive that way.  Word on the street has it that ICEF was also telling its people not to park directly in front of my house.
   That was great for me but unfortunately, this meant that the traffic and parking issues were just being forced on the houses south of Stoner Avenue, and that is something I not cool with. I don't want to just move the problem down the street and have it effect my neighbor's quality of life.

    Now, that the honeymoon period of the first few weeks of school have passed, ICEF's community is falling into the same pattern of the previously co-located charter. Traffic and safety laws are being routinely ignored by the ICEF community. I am not hanging out on my street all day, every day, but it seems that every time I pass by I see an ICEF parent braking the law in the neighborhood.

    Here are just a few examples of what we are seeing:

2 car from ICEF block 1 driveway. 1 of the cars is in the red

ICEF parents parks in front of driveway while picking up a student

ICEF parent parks in red and in the cross walk to pick up student after school

ICEF parent parked in the bus zone at 7:45 AM.

Another ICEF car parked in the bus zone at 3:22 PM

ICEF car parked in red and obstructing view of the crosswalk from around the bend.

ICEF parent parks in front of fire hydrant to pick up student

Another ICEF parent parks in front of fire hydrant for pick up

ICEF Vice Principal Pope speaks to driver.

ICEF sent demand to cease and desist defamation against blogger

     On Friday September 18, 2015, I responded to ICEF's cease and desist letter to me and told them their first two demands were based on a lie and an absurd notion, and that I wouldn't agree to them.  It seems that the real point of their demand is that ICEF is upset at the reporting on the co-location that I am doing on this blog and is looking for any way to shut me down and shut me up even if it means running around and making up things about me.

ICEF, ICEF...pants on fire.

     The following Monday, September 21 2015, I sent ICEF a letter demanding that ICEF cease and desist their defamation against me.

   Specifically, in ICEF's cease and desist letter, ICEF's first claim is that I locked ICEF teachers and staff in campus.
   This is a LIE. I did no such thing and I will not let ICEF run around publishing false statements about me. ICEF is even using this lie as the basis for their legal action against me.
     That is why I had to send ICEF a letter demanding that they cease and desist their defamation of me.
     ICEF has until the end of the month to respond. I wonder if they will put out the fire or keep running around and fanning the flames.

ICEF Amateur Hour - poor record keeping

Back in August, I made a public records request for the email addresses of the ICEF Board of Directors so that I could email these un-elected, appointed directors to complain about the conditions on the Stoner Avenue Elementary School campus caused by the co-location of ICEF Vista and ask them to not return next year.

ICEF provides incorrect information in response to public records request

     Greg Brendel, ICEF CFO/COO and ICEF Keeper of Records, responded to my request and provided me with 6 email addresses.

    However, when I tried to email the board, all six emails bounced back returning a message that the email address did not exist.
     It's very odd that the ICEF keeper of records would not have the correct email information for board members, especially since he runs the board meetings.

   This isn't even the first time this year that Brendel has given me incorrect email address information for board members. In February of this year, I had asked for the email addresses of the ICEF board at the time. There were errors with the information he released then too.
 
     What's the deal? Can't ICEF provide true and correct information, or is it purposely providing incorrect contact information for its board?

   After pointing out the error (and complaining to the LAUSD Charter School Division), ICEF responded with the correct email addresses.
   It's very interesting that since last school year, the entire ICEF Board of Directors has changed. Is it normal for an entire school's boards to change in a one year? I guess we will learn more as ICEF releases more information in response to public records requests.

ICEF SSC rescheduled to tomorrow 4/16

Maybe it's was just a coincidence that when the Stoner community started inquiring about the next ICEF Vista School Site Council meeting, the meeting was rescheduled. 

    At any rate, as promised, the Stoner community representatives will be attending the SSC meeting tomorrow to represent the community's concerns about the co-location, and dispel the myths about the co-location and the opposition.
    In February, the ICEF SSC/ELAC discussed the co-location. When the Stoner community saw the meeting minutes in March, they were incensed and referred to it as "stealing from Peter to give to Paul".
     ICEF's plan was to take set aside rooms at Stoner that are used for music, art, special needs and parent's center, among other resources, to open up classrooms on the ICEF Vista St. Gerard campus to bring "art, computer lab and resource room"
   We hope the ICEF community will have a better understanding of our concerns once they have a human face to the concerns. We look forward to speaking to the ICEF community tomorrow.