Posted by localmom, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 2, 2009 at 8:25 pm

I've seen the charter school campus, and if THAT'S "reasonably equivalent" than we have gone back to the Jim Crow days of "separate but equal", where a bunch of dingy portables on a major thorofare are "equal" to grassy campuses with "real" buildings. Not sure about the square footage; maybe the lawyers were discussing the wrong things.

Posted by localdad, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 2, 2009 at 11:35 pm

It sounds like localmom is the same person who wrote the Charter School press release. Maybe local mom is Ken Moore? The Charter school keeps suing and suing, and losing and losing, and in the process wasting lots of our public school money. They just lost another lawsuit, the judge smacking them pretty good, and they are already talking like they are going to sue again. I think it is about time our community told them to stop it.

Posted by District Parent, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 2, 2009 at 11:45 pm

There are "dingy portables" on the campus of every LASD elementary school. I've taught in them and guess what - they work just fine. These lawsuits have been a total waste of money. The charter folks need to move on in a productive direction.

Posted by localmom, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Dec 3, 2009 at 8:01 am

That is quite funny, I am not Ken Moore!! :) No, I am not in favor of lawsuits either, they are a huge waste of resources. I am just thinking out loud that the law is too vague and it does seem skewed against charter schools in general, if one can be placed in a camp school indefinitely with no hope for a permanent site. If MV, or Cupertino or Sunnyvale parents ever wanted a school for the arts, etc, the law needs to be addressed as to the QUALITY of facilities, not just quantity of square feet. I agree, the BCS lost decisively on per student allocation. No need to appeal, etc. HOwever the kids certainly are not housed in paradise, and should another charter begin in another district, it seems that Board would have license to house them in the most undesirable facilities available as long as they meet the min. square footage...my 2 cents as a parent observer.

Posted by localmom2, a resident of another community, on Dec 3, 2009 at 8:17 am

The charter seems to have unlimited resources to sue the district over and over again. Why not use the money to purchase a site??? They offered to buy Gardner (albeit a very lowball offer). Other schools, including charters, have been creative with finding sites and transforming them into incredible student spaces. The district certainly does not have the money to house the charter on a new space - class sizes have already been increased to 24 students, people have been laid off, PTAs are being forced to fund even more of the essential costs of running a school. I don't know what the charter expects the district to do, given the lack of an available district-owned site and budget issues.

Posted by Parent, a resident of another community, on Dec 3, 2009 at 2:46 pm

Please Bullis parents, stop wasting OUR precious school money on lawyers for your selfish campaign in futility.

Shame on you for placing ALL our district children under the wheels of your mis-guided wagon. I only hope this latest defeat will finally hit home, but if not, there will be more defeats, it'll waste more district money though so KNOCK IT OFF! Its over.

Posted by just the facts, a resident of another community, on Dec 3, 2009 at 3:20 pm

Ways to waste district money

1. Remodel district office

2. remodel closed school

3. Enroll many out of district students to inflate numbers at loyola

4. Close school

5. Refuse to grant charter

6. Refuse to grant charter for a second time

6. Refuse offer for old Bullis campus

7. Remodel Bullis campus

8. Reopen Bullis campus move 400 students to fill Covington and Gardner Bullis

9. Operate School for 250 students, most of which do not live in that schools neighborhood.

10 refuse 3 million dollars from charter school

Ways to offer a offer a poor program-

1. Operate only one kind of school with no alternatives

2. Insist on top down one size fits all curriculum

3. Make defeat of the charter school your number one priority

4. Move low scoring test takers to Covington to inflate scores at other schools

5. Take money and programs away from other schools in order to support Gardner Bullis

6. Crowd the Egan Campus.

Way to cover it all up-

1. Blame it all on the Charter School

2. Pretend that the charter school students are all private school students

3. Inflate numbers at Loyola ( see #1 above) so that it stayed open instead of Bullis Purissima.

Posted by GDM, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 3, 2009 at 3:58 pm

We must remember that the Bullis people live in the hills and are used to getting their way in life.

Posted by a capitalist, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Dec 3, 2009 at 11:13 pm

I imagine that many of the Bullis-Purissima parents contributed a significant amount of money to LAEF over the years. The district closed the school even though Bullis students lived far away from other district schools. They certainly did NOT get their way on that one, did they? Most of them worked hard to live in the hills, earned their money, and shared generously of their time and talents with LAEF, etc.

Posted by localmom2, a resident of another community, on Dec 4, 2009 at 7:34 am

Yes. And so have the current parents of Gardner Bullis - both the LA and the LAH folks. They are working hard to create a warm, supportive environment for learning through volunteering and donations.