"Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine."
- Bob Carter
With the 2022-23 school year coming to a close, the North Valley Military Institute (NVMI) currently has nowhere to hold classes next year. With time running out to come up with a plan, "Superintendent" Mark Ryan went before the Los Angeles Community College District's (LACCD) Board of Trustees on June 7, 2023, with the hope of getting approval to rent space on the Los Angeles Mission College campus. He hoped to get this done quickly as the Los Angeles County Office of Education must approve any change in the charter schools operating plans before classes can start.
Unfortunately for Ryan, the members of the LACOE Board did not feel that they had enough information to make an appropriately informed decision. They, therefore, tabled their consideration of the lease until it can be discussed further at the next meeting of the trustees on June 21. This delay will make it difficult for the school to get the needed approvals from LACOE in order for the next school year to start on time.
After hearing some of the concerns expressed by the Trustees I sent them the following letter detailing some of the circumstances that make NVMI a risky tenant for the Community College District:
Thank you for voting to delay consideration of the proposed lease agreement with the North Valley Military Institute at your meeting yesterday. As noted, this board did not have all of the information that was needed to fulfill their fiducial responsibilities in determining if this lease was in the best interests of the students of the Los Angeles Community College District.
Questions were raised yesterday about the ongoing audit of NVMI by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) and how it was initiated. In the attached letter dated March 7, 2023, the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) requests this "extraordinary audit" after it found evidence of "fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices" and suspicion that "NVMI mismanaged and misappropriated over $90,000 of public funds due to imprudent fiscal practices, gifting of public funds, and by misappropriating Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) monies and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding."
If FCMAT's audit confirms LACOE's suspicions, then it is reasonable to expect that a revocation of the charter is a possibility. If this occurs, the school would be forced to end its operations. Perhaps it would be best to wait for the outcome of this investigation to be released before proceeding with a lease term of two years that NVMI would not be able to fulfill.
It should also be noted that when offered the opportunity, NVMI's Mark Ryan did not offer a defense of the accusations made by LACOE. This could be due to the fact that he has already admitted to his authorizers that "ESSER funds were used to pay for well-being activities," a use for which the County has questioned legality.
This Board also needs to look into whether NVMI has the financial stability to fulfill the obligations of the proposed lease. One of the reasons the school's charter renewal was rejected by the LAUSD was poor financial stability, a finding that was confirmed by LACOE staff. A letter dated April 28, 2020, stated that "NVMI is financially insolvent." Another on April 12, 2023, expresses concern about a "Violation of Law and Memorandum of Understanding" regarding the school's failure "to respond to all reasonable inquiries," as LACOE tried to investigate its financial condition. Mark Ryan reported to Daniel Villanueva and the rest of the NVMI Board of Trustees in May that the school will only have $18,000 in cash on hand at the end of this school year.
While this item was presented to you as an ordinary lease agreement, NVMI is not simply just renting space; it is relying on Los Angeles Mission College to provide services to keep it operating. It was stated that most classes will be taught by Mission College staff, but this arrangement is not approved under NVMI's operating charter. What will students do between classes or will Mission College ensure that there are no breaks in students' schedules? ROTC was mentioned as a class that Mission College cannot provide. Are there other classes needed to conform to high school requirements? What will happen to students who cannot handle a college course load? Will they simply be abandoned by NVMI, a publicly funded school that is supposed to accept all students who seek to enroll, regardless of ability?
There are also important questions to be answered about how the 20.8% of NVMI's student body who have Special Education needs will be served. While colleges are not required to abide by Individual Education Plans (IEPs), NVMI's students are enrolled in a publicly funded high school that is required by law to serve these students. What are the plans for students who require special day classes and are not capable of following a college curriculum? The LACCD may not be an authorizing agency, but they do have a moral obligation to not facilitate the neglect of society's most vulnerable children.
As Mark Ryan spoke yesterday, he tried to push you to make a decision based on his timeline requirements of having a new facility by July 1. While the LACCD staff was assessed blame for bringing this to the board at the last second, the truth is that this is a crisis of Ryan's own making. Until just a few weeks ago, Ryan was trying to move the school to the facility occupied by the California National Guard in the Sepulveda Flood Control Area. It was only after that plan failed that he settled on relocating to Mission College. The plan was so last minute that NVMI's Board approved the lease agreement that you are considering even though they did not have the document available for review.
The accusation yesterday that the LAUSD caused this crisis is incorrect as the school district did make an offer on NVMI's PROP-39 demand for space. Ryan says that this was not an affordable plan for the school based on the fact that it was spread out over three campuses. However, the charter school has already stopped accepting enrollment for the middle school. While they have yet to make this official by submitting the required material revision, it is clear that they would not have needed the space for these students, bringing them down to a single site. Therefore, they could have demanded less space from the LAUSD and not required this Board to act on an expedited basis. Instead, NVMI rejected the LAUSD's offer.
When this item is brought to you again in two weeks, I hope that you will consider the information that I have presented as I think that it makes it clear that it is not in the LACCD's interest to rush this process. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Carl Petersen
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
