ICEF plots to counter protests

A community member alerted me that the icef principal and some administration were out behind the church plotting something.

   I had a minute so I figured I would go by and see what was going on.

   I walked up to the group and said "Taking about the protest, are we? 

   Yes, they were strategizing about the protest, but they were also waiting for the cops.

    ICEF administration threatened having the protesters arrested. I laughed, it's a public sidewalk. 

     ICEF admin said there are five more charters waiting to co-locate. I told them we didn't care if there were 50 charters waiting, we would oppose them all. 

     I let them know this was only the first protest and that if they accept the co-location there would be protests starting the first day of school. 

Stoner to protest ICEF co-location

Tomorrow the Stoner ES community will be holding a protest rally in front of ICEF Vista to oppose the co-location of ICEF at Stoner ES.

BOMBSHELL!!! CWC DOCS RELEASED - Follow up #4 to "Naked CWC student hosed down on campus"

For whatever reason, the legal team to Citizens of the World Charter Mar Vista has finally decided to release the CWC documents related to the hosing of the naked charter school student on the Stoner ES campus and all I can say is...BOMBSHELL!!!!!
    The heavily redacted 78 pages released included personal emails and documents watermarked confidential, but some of the stuff that slipped through in these email is just too juicy. It's better than I could have expected (but also sadder than I could have imagined.)
   I am going to give a few examples, but you'll have to read the best stuff in the book.

*In total, there were 7 different versions of the incident from CWC.

*Depending on which you believe:
   -the executive director: was on campus OR was not aware of the incident until 12 school days later
   -the principal: was off campus OR in a closed door meeting and could not be disturbed
   -the child: was given a bag with a hole for his head OR the bag had holes for his legs.
   -there were 3 people OR 1 person present for the child's hosing

*The one thing all the CWC stories have in common, is the Stoner parent who witnessed the hosing is never mentioned. How would the Stoner community have ever known about this incident if there wasn't a witness?

   Well, I'd like to get back to finishing writing this up for the book, but it's going to have to wait while I attend to matters of the latest co-location attempt at Stoner ES.

 

LA School report: co-location fight on horizon

LA School Report reports: there is a co-location fight is on the horizon...and you'll never guess where. Why here, in Del Rey, at Stoner Avenue Elementary School, of course.

Read the report here: http://laschoolreport.com/another-co-location-fight-on-the-horizon-and-guess-where-stoner-es/

Stoner community to oppose ICEF co-location

When the news came out on February 4, that ICEF Vista planned to co-location at Stoner ES, the response from the community was swift and strong. Stoner parents kept asking me "When are we going to protest?" and I would say that were weren't going to protest unless we had to. First, we needed to talk to LAUSD and ICEF to have all the information.
   A week after the announcement, LAUSD held meetings about the co-location. When parents heard that our set aside rooms for special programs would have to be given up to make space for ICEF, the anger and outrage of the Stoner parents grew, and community leaders decided they needed to act now.

Petition signing at Stoner Avenue Elementary

    The following week, Stoner community representatives attended the ICEF monthly board meeting to present their concerns and express the opposition to the proposed co-location.  The pleas to the board fell on deaf ears, and the board said they would continue the co-location process.

   Last week, members of the booster club Friend of Stoner Elementary School were in front of Stoner ES handing out information and collecting signatures to oppose the proposed co-location.

   This week, Stoner parents were in front of ICEF Vista passing out information and collecting signatures from the ICEF community to oppose the co-location. The Friends of Stoner were surprised to learn that there are many in the ICEF community who are opposed to the co-location and don't want their school split. Many ICEF parents have expressed concern that their administration did not consult them, and are talking about pulling their kids out of ICEF if the co-location happens.

Friends of Stoner talk to ICEF parents, principal about co-location

    However, ICEF is continuing down the co-location road that will create conflict and division in the neighborhood. Last night, ICEF held an information session for its parents and continued with the claim that the co-location was a "done deal" and there was nothing they could do to stop it. ICEF representatives were also present at last night's Del Rey Neighborhood council meeting to let the community know that they are planning on accepting the co-location regardless of what the local community, Stoner community and ICEF community want.
    The Stoner community will continue collecting signatures on a petition opposing the co-location to present at next ICEF board meeting on March 19.

    Unfortunately, ICEF is moving on undeterred, and so it looks like we might be having protests in the neighborhood.

100th blog post!

Woo-hoo! This is the 100th published blog post for Adventures in Charter School Co-location.
   When I started this blog a year ago, I never really figured this would help end the charter co-location. I thought I might write two or three posts and abandon it, but somehow here we are a year and a 100 postings later.
    One of the more popular stories for most of the year was a one line post with a picture titled: It's Official #3: Carpetbaggers. However, by the end of the year the story CWC Director to resign tonight eventually took the top spot. There were other popular stories including: Stoner Elementary community to protest CWC co-location, IT'S OFFICIAL - No co-location at Stoner ES for 2014/15, and Naked CWC student hosed down on campus. I also had some favorites I would like to mention the CWC karma tickets, segregated rock conert and the snark edition #2.

  While it's been fun documenting the adventures, I was hoping this blog would be done already, but as Stoner Elementary once again stares down the barrel of a co-location, the community is fighting back and so, I'll be writing about it.

Meetings about proposed ICEF co-location: Stoner ES "empty" classrooms explained

     This past week, LAUSD held two meetings in the Stoner Elementary School auditorium for parents and community members to inform them of the proposed co-location of ICEF Vista on the Stoner ES campus for 2015/16. Since these were open meetings, I invited ICEF administration, teachers, members of the board and community to attend the meetings so that they could hear first hand the concerns of the Stoner parents and the neighborhood community about any co-location. A few ICEF parents showed up, but no ICEF officials attended.
    Once again, the Stoner community was told that "empty" classrooms on campus would be given to a charter school. Principal Stapleton explained that according to the Prop. 39  co-location assessment, Stoner ES had 15 "empty" classrooms. Prop. 39 methodology only counts as full a classroom with a teacher and a roster of students. Any set-aside rooms or special program rooms are considered "empty." 
     In reality, of the 15 "empty" classrooms, only 1 room is truly not being used. The other 14 "empty" rooms are being used for:  a 60 instrument orchestral music program, a computer lab, art classes, the parents center, a theater program, LA’s Best (after school program), a Speech therapist, a virtual dental clinic; a counselor, a psychologist, a teaching & learning PD, an AP office and adult English education classes for the community.
     Removing any of these rooms and resources would be devastating to the students of Stoner Elementary and the local community it serves.
     Next year, Stoner will also be starting a Bilingual Spanish Maintenance program and building a STEM (Science, technology, engineering & math) laboratory. These programs were not taken into account by the Prop 39 assessment. The bilingual program currently has enough students signed up for 2 classes of K for Fall 2015/16.

     ICEF is asking for 9 rooms. Which of these nine programs would you have us give up or reduce to make space for a co-location? Which programs would you give up if your children and community were involved? The bilingual program? the STEM lab? Music? Arts? Counselor, psychologist, dental clinic? The after school program or theater?
      What do you think the atmosphere will be like on campus? How do you think the Stoner students will feel knowing that they won't have orchestra or art anymore because of the ICEF students are in those rooms? How will the ICEF student feel on campus?

     This co-location would have the local Del Rey community fighting over resources in their own community with their own neighbors. The few ICEF parents who attended the informational meeting expressed concern and distress at what the co-location would truly mean not only for Stoner, but for their own children.
     I hope that ICEF is able to understand that this proposed co-location is a bad idea and the request should be withdrawn immediately, but the Stoner community is not taking any chances and is going to make sure that they hear our concerns loud and clear.

     This coming week, the Stoner community will be conducting a letter writing/emailing campaign and collecting signatures for a petition opposing the colocation to present to the ICEF Board of Trustees at their monthly meeting this Thursday, February 19.
     Our hope is that ICEF will drop its bid for rooms and not continue the colocation process past the March 1 deadline to respond to the Feb 1 preliminary co-location proposal.