Elections have consequences!
Charter School Division Director José Cole-Gutiérrez saw how pro-public school candidates overcame almost $8.9 million in spending by Charter School Industry supporters and has shifted towards more thorough oversight of these publicly funded private schools. On Tuesday’s agenda, four of the seven charter schools up for renewal are recommended for denial!
Our work is not done. If experience holds, the charter schools will flood the meeting. Students and parents will sign up for public comment with pre-approved comments and tears, begging the Board Members to ignore the concerns raised by the Charter School Division.
We must make sure our voices are heard. Comments may be made by phone, but you have to sign up on Monday morning. Getting a speaking slot is more difficult than getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert so you have to be logged into https://boardmeeting.lausd.net/speakers promptly at 11:00 AM to sign up. Items 16 through 22 are the charter renewals.
The agenda can be found at https://www.lausd.org/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/1057/01-14-25RegBdRevisedOBPost.pdf.
Here are some of my articles on the schools up for renewal:
Ivy Bound Academy: change.hopp.to/IVY
Crete Academy: change.hopp.to/Crete
The KIPP Chain: change.hopp.to/KidsLast
Additionally, KIPP Corazon Academy had $28,111 in overallocation fees forgiven by Cole-Gutiérrez without any public explanation: change.hopp.to/debt