This clearly violates the provision of their charter that specifies that "A student's IEP will never be required prior to participation in any attendance lottery or as a condition for enrollment." According to the handbook, this policy was revised in September 2015, but the CSD has either ignored this issue or failed in their responsibility to find the violation. The Alliance organization is currently operating at 28 locations throughout the LAUSD.
Over six months after the original complaint was filed, GHCHS finally removed the requirement from their website requiring that prospective parents provide report cards and copies of any existing IEPs or 504 plans. However, it appears that they continue to do their best to avoid complying with the requirement that they automatically accept students who live in their attendance area. One parent reports that, contrary to the information on their website, Granada is requiring multiple copies of DWP Bills and Gas Bills in order to enroll, making it harder for students moving into the area to enroll. Once this hurdle was cleared for the parent, Granada insisted that the regular campus was full and assigned her child to the iGranada program. This is in direct violation of the Notice to Cure that was issued on June 22, 2016.
These examples show how ill-equipped the CSD is to oversee the charters that already exist within the LAUSD. Yet, at every monthly Board meeting, it seems that even more are added to the roster. It is time to stop the insanity. The LAUSD must heed the NAACP call "for a moratorium on charter school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice." It is the only way to protect our children.
"We will ask the Charter Division...to give us a response to this. This is not in line with current state law and we'll need to take a look at that."
-Steve Zimmer, LAUSD Board Member
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Carl Petersen is a parent and special education advocate and was a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race. He was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action and Dr. Diane Ravitch called him a "strong supporter of public schools." His past blogs can be found at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com.
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