The COW's are coming to Saturn: Citizens Of the World Mar Vista tries another co-location

Citizen of the World Mar Vista is going interplanetary:

The COW herd is moo-ving to Saturn Elementary

    Recently, we've been seeing variations on the search query "Where will Citizens of the World Mar Vista be located next year?" leading people to this blog.  It seems that the Citizens of the World (COW) community wants to know where they will be next year since St. Joan of Arc did not work out so well. I guess the administration isn't being forthcoming and so the COW community is stampeding to this blog for answers.
     You can whoa doggies!...because we've got what your looking for.
     I learned today, that COW will be co-locating at Saturn Street Elementary for 2015/16. The campus places COW 6 miles away from its namesake, Mar Vista. While the COWs might believe themselves to be enlightened citizens of this world, I wonder how they'll fare on Saturn.
    The Saturn community is not pleased and has already begun the battle cry "The COW's are coming!" Saturn is preparing for the COW occupation.

    Saturn was told a white washed version of why COW was no longer co-located at Stoner. The official reason was a missed deadline. However, as the Saturn community has learned about the COW's Adventure in Charter Co-location at Stoner, they have become very concerned.

   Will COW also create traffic and safety issues?  Will the COW's bring their entitled, elitist mentality?  Will the COW heard bring separate and unequal conditions on campus? Will the COW parents and teachers refuse to follow the rules?  Will the COW being stripping students naked and hosing them down on campus?

    While we are glad that the COWs are no longer at Stoner, we are truely sorry that Saturn will have to deal with these COWs.

Book follow up #1 : [FLASHBACK] Frying Pan News "Why Charter Schools Are Tearing Public Campuses Apart."

The book on the CWC Mar Vista co-location at Stoner Elementary is coming along. I'm not a full time writer. So, these things take time. There are revisions, fact checking and other details to look into before sending the book to press.

Archive.org capture of the Frying Pan article "
Why Charters Schools are tearing public campuses apart"

     In doing my due diligence on the matter, I came across an article in the Huffington Post titled with the question  "Is Charter School Co-Location Tearing Public Schools Apart?" The article was published on July 17, 2013.  It contained one sentence that mentioned the then up-coming co-location of CWC on the Stoner Elementary school campus for 2013/14.

     I'm an avid HuffPo reader and I read this article in the Los Angeles section when it came out.  Back then, it didn't mean anything to me. I thought, "Good, a charter should come in and fix things around here. Stoner...pfft! What kind of school is that?"

   Recently, I looked a little deeper into the article and found the original version that was published on the Frying Pan News. It had a slightly different title "Why Charter Schools are Tearing Public Campuses Apart" which is a statement as opposed to the question in the HuffPo version. The Frying Pan version included a cartoon by political satirist and my favorite cartoonist, Lalo Alcaraz.

    In the cartoon [click here to see], Alcaraz captures exactly what it felt like at Stoner during the co-location. Our local little American community school house was being squeezed off campus by a corporate "Saks Fifth Avenue" charter school giant that did not "play well with others" and was taking more than their fair share of the public resources yet claimed to be thankful we were "sharing."
   This article and cartoon foreshadowed many of the problems we would later see in the co-location of Citizens of the World Charter Mar Vista at Stoner Avenue Elementary. It is interesting that this article that came out a year and a half ago and meant nothing to me then, stands out and resonates so strongly now. I can confidently answer the HuffPo article title and state "Yes, charter school co-locations are tearing public schools apart." It's too bad I didn't understand this hot message when it first came straight off the Frying Pan.
 

VERIFIED: CWC MV out performs Stoner...in suspensions

After reporting on the 8 suspensions at CWC,  I received an anonymous email telling me that those numbers were wrong and stating that I "should check my facts."
   While information and statistics about Stoner are readily available on LAUSD's website [link], and discipline statistics can be accessed with a click,  information about Cwc is not as easily available.
   So, I sent a California Public Records Act request to LAUSD to check the facts and the chart below is what I received.

 

What I found, is that with a population of 351students, Pre-K to 5, Stoner only had 1 suspension for 2013/14. While on the other side of campus, cwc had a population of 133, K to 2, and had a whopping 8 suspensions resulting in 13 days of lost class times. This means there was at least one, if not more, multiday suspensions at Cwc. Adjusting for population size, Cwc had 2100% more suspensions than Stoner.

  Cwc greatly out performed Stoner in the number and rate of suspensions on campus and I will graciously concede that Cwc beat Stoner in this measure.  Kudos on your accomplishment, citizens!

I'm double checking my facts. Are you checking yours?

CWC Mar Vista Library: segregated and elite

Today, I was alerted to an Indie Go Go crowd source fund raising page for CWC Mar Vista's new Library. It all sounds pretty, well...unbelievable. They have created a "list of great quality pleasure reading books" that is a "golden list" of books that can "smooth transitions and soothe psychologies," as such "It is a fantastic list of books." It's almost like they've invented a brand new wheel....simply unbelievable! (In the spirit of community and the best education for all, they might want to share this magical bibliography so that all public schools can benefit from CWC's wisdom.) ...and to top it all off, the library will have "professional library catalog software that is used for university libraries." I'm sure this will come in handy when the students are writing their Kindergarten thesis.

    This sounds great and kudos to them for making a library for their school, but then this reminded me of one of the more personally offensive aspects of the Citizens of the World Charter Mar Vista co-location at Stoner Avenue Elementary School: the CWC Mar Vista segregated library.   

    In my normal life, when I'm not writing this blog, I am a professional librarian, a law librarian to be exact.
   Early in the school year, when I learned about the separate library for CWC, I was crushed. The co-location was still new and I knew nothing about CWC, but I knew that having a library for a select group of students on campus is the antithesis of what a grade school library should be about.

   By law, one of the conditions of charter school co-locations is that the charter is entitled to use campus resources, such as the auditorium, cafeteria and library. 

    While CWC was co-locating at Stoner, they opted not to use the Stoner Library for their students (but would still use the library for meetings) and instead created their own private library that was for their students only. Why? Having a separate library is a disservice to both their own community and the Stoner community: it denies both school's students access to library resources right on their own campus and at the same time creates separate and thus unequal conditions on campus.
     I complained about the private library, and was told that while Stoner was required by law to share its library with CWC, CWC did not have to share their library with Stoner if they chose not to. It's one thing that CWC chose not to use the Stoner Library out of their own volition; but it's a completely different situation that Stoner was not even given a choice.

     I found it sad that CWC could not see the separate and unequal conditions they were bringing to campus by creating their own private library. A separate library for only their community speaks volumes* about how these worldly citizens were not good citizens of the Stoner ES campus.

*Sorry, I couldn't resist the library pun.

[Snark edition #2] "Have you read the 62 page letter from the LAUSD to CWC?"

Last month, I got a comment on this blog asking if I had read the 62 page April 1, 2014 LAUSD Final Offer letter delivered to Citzens of the World Charter Mar Vista. I haven't had time to read it until now, but I'm glad I did read it. I thought I had been shocked before by CWC Mar Vista like when they hosed down a naked, sick student, or when CWC declared war on the Del Rey neighborhood, or when they put our students lives at risk for coffee, but reading LAUSD's response to CWC's counter offer left me stunned. The audacity and entitlement in CWC's requests were just outrageous. The absurdity of the CWC request of just begs for a snarky response.
  The letter is quite long and dense, so I'm just going highlight the top 10 disturbing quotes and respond to those. You know the drill annotations are in red.
   If you do want to read the entire letter you can find it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/226628146/Citizens-of-the-World-CS-Mar-Vista-Final-Offer-Prop-39-2014-15-First-Letter

1. "Charter School requests that the District enter into an alternative agreement whereby it would

provide Charter School with one additional teaching station and special education meeting

space at Stoner Avenue Elementary School" – Sorry, CWC, you were offered what was available and suitable for your needs based on your proposal. There will be no special treatment for CWC.

2. “Charter School objects to the District's request for information regarding the specific number

of students with special education needs and particular details of those needs.”  –  Hmm, you are requesting more space for special education, but don't want to give numbers to back it up. Right...

3. “Conversely, Charter School requests that the District ignore the methodology required by

Section 11969.3, subdivision (b)(l).” – Um, Citizens, we follow the law here, you don’t get to choose which laws you follow nor decide on your own methodology. 

4. “Charter School does not possess a valid food permit or certification from the applicable enforcement agency for the kitchen at the proposed school site, as required by the California Health and Safety Code.” – CWC requested use of the cafeteria, but did not have the necessary permit or certification to operate the cafeteria. CWC, you do not seem interested in following the law. What kind of worldly citizens are you that you continue to try to ignore the law?

5. “Charter School objects to complying with the Asbestos requirement as cited in the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA), 40 CFR part 763.” –  Really?! It’s one thing that CWC wants to flout LAUSD rules  and California state laws and regulations, but they also want to ignore federal law regarding asbestos? ASBESTOS?! You’ve got to be kidding me.

6. “Charter School objects to its purported obligation to pay for the repair of any damages it makes to the facilities.” – Wow, how entitled can one charter school be to believe that they should not have to pay for repairs for damages they cause? Is this the "mindful”behavior that CWC is always touting?

7.  Charter School requests that the District "reexamine the practice of assigning custodial staff…” What, are you going to have volunteer parent take care of maintenance? We saw how well it went when CWC parents handled facilities duties before (see: CWCparents throw spike in the street) 

8.  “Charter School objects to the inclusion of utilities costs in the pro rata share calculation.” –  Yeah, I wish I could object to my utilities cost too. 

9.  “Charter School objects to costs associated with the Office of Environmental Health and Safety ("OEHS") and contends that it is unaware of any benefits it receives from OEHS.” – Are you kidding me? The letter goes on to state,  “ OEHS is dedicated to providing a safe and healthy environment for all students at District campuses… These include the activities of maintaining safety in buildings, on the grounds, and in the vicinity of schools." – Really CWC? You see no benefit to ensuring safety on campus or in the vicinity of your school?...okay. Is that why you had the private security for the last month of school? 

10. "Charter School objects to the general public's potential use of the school site outside of school hours." – So, CWC claims to want to be part of the Del Rey community, but want to keep the community from utilizing the public school facilities after school hours for the public's benefit. That doesn’t sound very citizen like to me. 

Bonus qutoe: LAUSD’s response to #10  “To make an exception for Charter School's students would require the District to accommodate Charter School students in better conditions than students attending District School. “ – Bascically, CWC, you will not be given special privilege to benefit your school while hurting the local community and community school. 

  There are still plenty of other gems in the 62 page letter, but I think these 10 quotes exemplify the entitlement and flouting of the law that we continued to see from the CWC community.

[Flashback] CWC Protest #1 - What's In a Gate?

On Tuesday, October 8, 2013, neighborhood Dely Rey residents held a protest against the CWC Mar Vista co-location on the Stoner Avenue Elementary School campus. The issues ranged from traffic and safety to segregation, competition for resources and unequal conditions on campus.

   The new, separate CWC entrance quite literally was separate and unequal access to education on the same campus.
   The video below, What's in Gate?, was produced from this protest.



My favorite part is 3:34, where a CWC parent describes the situation as a "tree that's dying and the strangler grows around it" and "eventually the rotting one goes away."
     Our school and our community are not dying trees. We will remove any strangling vines from the root so that our tree can flourish. We are alive and well, thank you very much.

CWC declares "war" on the neighborhood

After the flicked cigarette incident, CWC sent a letter to their community that looks more like a declaration of war on the surrounding neighbors then a communication about an off campus incident involving a resident and a poorly parked CWC community member.

   CWC administration states "A serious line has been crossed." and that they were working to "...secure restraining orders against select individuals..." CWC also requested that LAUSD police be present for CWC drop off and pick up. CWC states that they are calling in help from local, state and national groups.
     This is a completely over the top, ham fisted reaction by the CWC administration to an isolated off campus incident that resulted from the community's frustration with the parking and traffic issue that CWC is causing.

    The tone of the email is even more disturbing in that at time, many in the CWC community were under the impression that I was the one who flicked the cigarette. This rumor lead to a CWC parent vandalizing property and coming to the neighborhood looking for me and scaring my wife.
     The email contains dangerously inaccurate information that feeds into the myth being perpetuated by the CWC community that there is an organized hostile opposition to CWC that is being led by me, "a Lindblade Street neighbor."
    I understand that tensions in the neighborhood are high regarding the CWC co-location, but this doesn't help calm things down. In fact, it just throws gasoline on the fire.
   

Flicked cigarette ignites the World, Citizens of

On Friday, May 2, we had a disturbing incident involving a car blocking a driveway and a flicked cigarette that has set off CWC.

   I spoke with the neighbor, who I'll refer to as G, and other witnesses about the incident to find out what happened.
   G lives in the a cul da sac right across from the CWC entrance, because of this he receives the brunt of the traffic and parking problem that residents have been complaining about for months. His trash cans have been moved and pick ups missed many times. His driveway is often time blocked.
   He lives with two elderly relatives and so it is a major problem for all of them to have the driveway blocked.
   G has to deal with this on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day. I can only image the level of frustration this would cause after many, many months of having to deal with the same issue day in day out.

   On that Friday, he saw that his neighbor's driveway was blocked and the neighbor had parked in one of the other neighbor's driveways (per an agreement between the neighbor's in the a cul de sac to help them deal with the parking/traffic problems.) As, the car blocking the driveway was leaving, he reminded the person to be careful when parking. No sooner had that car left then another car came to take that spot and continue to block the neighbor's driveway.
    G waved to the new car to alert them that they were blocking the driveway.  The driver rolled down the window and told G "F--k, you!". Things escalated with f-bombs going back on forth.
    G was so upset that he flicked the cigarette he was smoking towards the car, and the cigarette flew into the open window and into the backseat where a toddler was sitting. Per one witness, G was visibly distressed that the cigarette went in the car. G described it as a total accident, a one in a million fluke.
   The driver jumped out and pulled the child in the back seat out of the car.

    The police were called and G was cited for littering. 

    Now, CWC is using this incident as a rallying point for their community and claiming that there is an "organized hostile opposition" in the community, when really all there is are a bunch of neighbors who are upset by the traffic cause by the co-location of CWC.

    The only difference between this incident and every other day, is that there was a cigarette involved. If there was no cigarette, the traffic/parking/safety problems would just continued as they always have.

[Flashback] CWC student escapes campus, police return student to parents

Looking at this blog right now, you might think this whole madness with the CWC Mar Vista co-location started with a cup of coffee. So, I wanted to provide some flashbacks to put the situation in context so that you can see how we arrived at the current state of affairs.
_______
FLASHBACK - FLASHBACK - FLASHBACK

   Early in the school year, Citizens of the World Charter Mar Vista began leaving its entrance gate unlocked and opened for the convenience of the CWC community. Parents could enter and leave campus as they pleased.* Deliveries could be made without checking who or what was coming on campus. This also meant that CWC students and Stoner ES students could just walk off campus. Which is exactly what happened.

   A special needs CWC student did escape campus.  CWC was unaware that the child had even left campus. Fortunately, the child was found down the street by conscientious citizen of our neighborhood.  The neighbor found the child in her yard babbling incoherently. The neighbor looked around, waited and didn't see anyone with the child. So, the good citizen called the police and the CWC student was reunited with their family. CWC would later learn about the incident.

  CWC's poor campus security decision to leave its gate open and unlocked had to be addressed. Their solution to the problem was to put a combination lock on the gate and give the combination to all the parents. We saw how well that turned out.

and, that's today's FLASHBACK.

______
*Considering the CWC parents have been seen entering the students only bathroom, it's very disturbing that CWC parents had such free and unfettered access to the campus.

[special snark edition] CWC does not take safety concerns seriously. How can we take them seriously?

[Advisory] Generally, I take the situation caused by the CWC co-location very seriously. However, I'm well aware of the absurdity and comedy of the situation. Stoners vs Citizens, a mainly minority school vs a mostly white school, poor working vs well off...sometimes it sounds like a bad joke and you just have to laugh. And so today, I'm presenting a extra special snarky edition of the blog.Yes, there will be rudeness. Yes, there will be mockery and condescension in today's post, but today is a chance to step back and laugh at the comedy of errors that is this co-location. Please, be advised.
____________


Considering the graffiti this month and that my family was almost run over by a CWC parent, I wanted to see what CWC was telling their community about the gang and traffic safety issues. I made a California Public Records Act request and was , frankly, not surprised to see that CWC was minimizing the gang problems and placing blame for traffic/safety problems on  "A neighbor" and not on the actual unsafe driving by the CWC community, but we'll get to all that in a second.

   This letter was sent out to the CWC community by the CWC Executive Director on April 8, 2014. A JPG of the document is below if you'd like to see the original released document. Here on the blog, we are going to go through this document line by line and adding some annotations in red.
______

Hi all,

Hope you are doing well! Writing with a quick update about the graffiti on the fence banner and with some traffic safety reminders. (I hate to start off being picky, but this is a fragment sentence and this communication is very informal. Is this really an official communication from a professional educator?) Wanted to let you all know that, thanks to amazing parent volunteers, we're painting over the graffiti right now. I know it's troubling to see. We reached out to LAPD and they came by this morning (What took CWC so long? We contacted LAPD on 4/7 in the morning. In the evening on 4/7, LAPD told us CWC had not yet returned their calls and were not available when they went by campus twice that day.) and said they'd be having additional evening patrols to try and deter this in the future (When I spoke with LAPD, they strongly recommended removing the fence covering. Why no mention of that option, considering it is the option CWC ultimately chose?). We have seen this at other locations and LAPD definitely mentioned there's tagging in the neighborhood generally. (Yes, there is definitely tagging in the neighborhood, but in my four decades in the area, I've never seen a direct "F--- You!!!" written in a tag. The graffiti does not look like your general run-of the mill tagging. This was definitely a message to the people behind the fence. I would not take this message as a general message.) We will be looking at other measures we can take from installing cameras to moving the banner to the interior of the fence (Really? Why because spray paint won't go through a chain link fence?). More to come on all of that.

In other news, wanted to let you know that in addition to Alison and Jim (Principal of Stoner) (This took me aback. "Jim?" Again, is this really an official communication from an education professional? Or maybe "Jim" is just cool with all the CWC community like that...)  meeting regularly, the liaison groups established with Stoner (small groups of teachers and parents from both schools) are meeting and collaborating as well (except that the CWC parents have cancelled the last two meetings and the group has not meet in close to two month, which is very upsetting since there are serious safety issues that need to be addressed. See: link). We're also working closely with the neighborhood council and their education committee that created an ad hoc committee specifically devoted to resolving the co-location/ community tension (The local community is boycotting the ad hoc meetings since the DRNC is not representing its concerns on this issue.).

I also wanted to remind everyone to please drive safely at all times around the school. A neighbor is repeatedly photographing and taking videos (Yes, that's the problem "A neighbor" is taking photos & video, not the actually unsafe driving by the CWC community. Also, I wonder how they concluded it is only "a neighbor" since many neighbors are upset and are taking pictures and video. As a community, we are only starting to get organized about collecting this evidence. Also, why is CWC placing the blame on one person and thus making them a target? We have seen the CWC community make targets out of our community members before. Instead of dealing with issue, they blame the people who bring attention to the problems.) of cars running stop signs, backing up into intersections, blocking driveways, parking in red zones or in front of hydrants (It's sad that she doesn't even mention the incident that sparked this reminder, that my family was almost run over in a crosswalk by a CWC parent driving backwards down the street) . Mornings in particular are harried times, please take care to drive extra safely especially when running late. While we definitely aim to start on time, it's better for folks to be tardy than to risk an accident (and run over a whole family). Thanks for your help with this. 

Thank you, as always, for your patience and steadfast support in the face of what is

definitely a frustrating situation. We do know from other charters that they have

faced this too and in time it has passed (It's upsetting to see how the CWC administration minimizes the problem and says that it is a passing thing.  The local community and Stoner ES community are not a passing things.  This is where we live and we aren't going anywhere.) Definitely come grab me in the office or shoot me an email if you have any questions or specifics you want to connect about.

CWC parents throw spikes in the street around Stoner ES

CWC parent removing graffiti filled fence cover

   This last week was Spring break and school was out, but this doesn't mean CWC stopped creating safety issues in our community. Based on the orders of CWC administration, a group of CWC parents threw spikes on the sidewalk and street around the Stoner Elementary School campus**. If this sounds too crazy to be true, then please read on.

    On Tuesday, April 22 around 6 pm, a crew of 3 Citizens of the World Mar Vista parents (and two children) were seen removing the tagged up CWC fence covering. An hour later, the fence covering was down, but the removal started a multiple day safety issue in our neighborhood.

CWC spikes picked up on April 15

   That evening, I went to check out the removed fence covering and began to notice some of the metal brackets that were used to secure the fence were lying all along the sidewalk and in street. There were scores of brackets all over the place. This was a very dangerous situation.  These brackets created a serious safety issue in that they could pop a car or bike tire, topple a scooter or skateboard, or even puncture through a shoe.
   My wife, a neighbor and I spent an hour cleaning up the spikes. We picked up all that we could find on the sidewalk and street, but could see many more spikes inside campus that we could not reach.
   I alerted CWC (and cc'd LAUSD) to the danger and asked that CWC come an clean up the dangerous situation that they created. I received no response.

More CWC spikes April 18

    On Friday, my wife was walking past the CWC entrance when she heard a "clink, clink" at her feet.  She looked down and found that there were still spikes around the school. She picked up all the spikes she could find.
   On Saturday morning, I emailed CWC to follow up and demanded that they clean up this safety issue immediately.  These spikes should have never been in the street in the first place and should have been immediately removed when CWC was notifed of the danger on Wednesday morning.
    The CWC principle responded that she would deal with problem in a day or two. A concerned LAUSD administrator immediately responded to the principle's email saying that if CWC could not be there that day, she would go herself.
    An hour later, I get an email from the CWC principle saying that she inspected the area and didn't see any problem. She also thanked me for alerting her to the problem (but not for cleaning up their dangerous mess that CWC created, but just for alerting her to the problem; a problem that she did not see as serious and thought could be addressed in a few days.) An hour after that, I received an email from CWC director stating that she had just been to the area and there was "not much to speak of" and that she cleaned up a few remaining brackets.

More CWC spikes found April 19 using magnet

   Ten minutes after receiving the directors email, I went to inspect the area myself. I took a magnet on a string and went "fishing" for brackets with my daughters. We found another two dozen brackets in the street and on the sidewalk.

    These brackets left on the ground are basically spikes that could cause serious injury. These brackets were left on the ground by the CWC parents who removed the fence covering. These spikes in the community are an example of the problems that occur when volunteer parents are performing the functions and duties of paid professionals. As such, these "helpful" parents end up creating more problems for all involved.
 
    This is another disturbing example of the safety issues CWC is bringing to our campus and neighborhood. It's troubling that even when a safety issue is pointed out to CWC administration, they either do not see a problem (principle) or try to minimize the extent of the problem (director). These spikes should have never been left on the street and sidewalk in the first place, and should have been addressed and cleaned up when CWC was first alerted to the danger, not days later after multiple complaints.

**Just so I am clear, I'm not saying that CWC directly ordered parents to throw spikes in the street, but CWC's reckless order to have volunteer parents remove the fence covering resulted in the spikes being thrown in the street. Therefore, based on the orders of CWC admin, CWC parents were throwing spikes in the streets.

CWC fence covering removed

Today our neighborhood looks more open, inviting, and welcoming, all because the CWC fence covering has been removed.  We hope this is permanent change.

    Just like many of the other issues with the co-location of CWC on the Stoner ES campus, what is a source of pride for CWC, is a sore point for everyone else. To CWC, the fence covering gave a "A feeling of cocoon-like safety by being surrounded by a beautiful and private fence." and was "Helping the space to feel 'kinder and gentler...'" To the Stoner and local community the covering represented separation and segregation, entitlement and elitism, and a lack of respect for the local community.

    The fence covering has been a sore point since it was first put up. One day, the neighborhood was an open and inviting place, then without warning, there was separation and the claim that fence covering was for a "true community."

     The fence covering was one of the most blatant examples of the segregation that CWC is bringing to the Stoner ES campus. The separation and inequality was even written directly on the fence covering: "A true community of learners." This phrase was written in two places on the fence covering.  Could they not realize how insulting this message would be to the home school and surrounding community? "A true community" What does that say to the people in the community who live in the area? Are we not a real community?  Was CWC even aware that the Stoner motto is "a learning community?" If CWC is a "true" community and "true" learners, what does that say to the Stoner students? Are they a false community? Are they untrue learners?
     Everyday local residents and Stoner students had to pass by this backhanded insult to our community and school. Residents and Stoner parents complained about the fence covering, but their pleas fell on deaf ears and so resentment in community began to simmer.

    On Friday March 7, a red "CxC" appeared on the fence covering over the CWC logo. The tag was quickly covered over in white, but was still visible.

The following Monday, March 10, two new CxC tags showed up.

 Then on April 6 the fence covering tagged all over. This time with a stronger profanity filled message.

    Since the fence covering is now attracting gang activity, local residents and Stoner parents have urged CWC to remove the fence covering.

    The covering is down now. For the safety of the neighborhood and school, let's hope the covering stays down.

Stoner/Cwc parent liaison meeting cancelled

Today's parent liaison meeting was cancelled and will be rescheduled for after Spring break.
    This is a rather disappointing turn of events. There are pressing issues to discuss, most importantly safety.
   With the latest graffiti incident,  it should be a priority to get both schools parents together as soon as possible to discuss safety for the entire campus.
   Plus, we still have a safety problem on campus of CWC parents entering the students only bathroom. The signs have been changed three times, getting bigger each time, and still the message is not getting through.
     Also, we have the issue of traffic and pedestrian safety on the streets around the Cwc entrance.
     Oh, and there is also....I guess we'll have to wait another two weeks.

More gang activity at Citizens of the World Charter

This is getting ridiculous.  Over the weekend, CWC's fence covering was tagged up really badly. 

While we here at this blog do not condon this behavior, it is not surprising given the neighborhood and the on going problems with this charter co-location.
______
There is an old folks tale in the neighborhood; a legend, really. When the land was filled with chaos, and lawlessness abound,  only the lawless were able to bring order and safety to this land.

During the 1992 LA Riots, the city was in chaos.  Police and firefighter were busy stopping looting and fires all over the city.
As the legend goes, a group of Culver City gang members met and decided they were not going to let their neighborhood be looted and burned to the ground. Their top priorities were the Johnston's Market (now Northgate) and Stoner Elementary because that's where their moms shop and that's where their families go to school. 

Like some kind of scene out of a movie, groups of cholos lined their cars up in the Stoner and Top Value parking lots with their headlights on facing out to the street and stood guard.
...and so, in our city's darkest hour, CxC became the unlikely protectors of the neighborhood; These hommies turned heros, these gangstas turned guardians, these sinners acting as saints; they kept order and protected the neighborhood's most valuable assets. While the rest of the city burned, no harm reached our sleepy corner of LA.

______

   Now, there is a new threat to the neighborhood. Our children are not safe at school and are facing segregated conditions. The streets are dangerous. There have been complaints filed, letters written, and protests held asking for relief from these unjust conditions, and yet the authorities do nothing.

   When the law refuses to act...

Traffic & safety woes continue at CWC Mar Vista

Yesterday after school, my wife, infant daughter and nephew, who attends CWC, were almost run over in a crosswalk when a CWC parent drove in reverse out of the Lindblade Place cul da sac and continued in reverse through the pedestrian crosswalk on Lindblade Street. The car came so close to them that my wife hit the car’s trunk with her hand to alert the driver to stop. The driver stopped and turned around with an annoyed look. When he realized what happened, he gave an embarrassed shrug before speeding off.

Embarrassed? Really? What is wrong with these citizens? Yes, how embarrassing would it be to have run over my wife, infant daughter and nephew in a crosswalk while driving reverse? When you almost run over someone because of your recklessness, a shrug is not the correct response. A mea culpa for this dangerous behavior should have been in order, but this shameless behavior from the CWC community is not surprising.

CWC has a culture of entitlement that manifests itself as disrespect to the community and a flouting of the law when they are in our neighborhood. During drop off and pick up times our quiet residential street turns into a lawless land where people do whatever they want: drive in the middle of the street, park in the red, block driveways and even drive in reverse down the street among other offenses. It’s not surprising that we are still seeing traffic issues on Lindblade and that the problems are becoming worse.

 Let’s look at few examples from just yesterday:

• Here is a CWC car parked at 7:43 AM in the bus loading zone which begins at 7 AM*

*The CWC father and child entered campus through the Stoner gate and not the CWC entrance.

• Here we have a CWC car parked in front of a driveway

• …and the worst one:

Below is a video sent to me today by a community member, that shows almost the exact same behavior that scared my wife yesterday afternoon, but this incident happened earlier that same day at another intersection. In the video a CWC community member:

• Doesn’t stop at stop sign going south on Stoner Ave.
• Parks in red zone in front of fire hydrant
• Reverses into an intersection
• Drives through a cross walk
• Does not stop at stop sign going west on Lindblade St.*
(*This may not be illegal since he was technically never behind the stop sign because he drove through the crosswalk…oh, right.)

What makes this most infuriating is that this citizen is illegally parked just few feet away from the loading zone that was created for CWC and that upset local residents by taking away parking spot from the community. Why would someone feel so entitled and exempt from the law that they think that this behavior was acceptable? Is this how these worldly citizens behave in their own neighborhood or just ours?

The traffic safety has been an on-going issue with this colocation. On October 16 2013, the Argonaut ran a story on the traffic problems caused by the colocation of Citizens of the World Mar Vista on the Stoner Avenue Elementary campus. It’s been 5 months and just like most all the other complaints against CWC, the situation has only gotten worse.

What can be done about this charter school’s community lack of basic citizenship and the safety problems that it causes? We don’t want to wait until we have a tragedy on the street like happened at CWC Hollywood until something is done about the safety in the neighborhood.

Yesterday, I was very lucky that my family was not hurt or worse. If CWC’s community behavior continues, someone else might not be so lucky.