Re “ACLU Is Pressing the District for Culver Park Details. The District Replies.”
Six weeks after it began, new Supt. Dave LaRose has formally entered the sticky summertime fray that pits the inquisitive ACLU and Culver Park High School on one side, the School District on the other.
Murkiness publicly has engulfed the not only the transfer of the continuation school from its traditional campus to a parking lot, so has the condition of Culver Park’s vaguely described accommodations.
Mr. LaRose sounded accommodating when he took his first step into the still unofficial case. “The ACLU submitted a request for information (last month), and we responded (last Thursday),” he said. “We provided clarification for what information we had at that point for what would be forthcoming.
“I would expect we will be connecting with ACLU once they receive it and review it, to see if what they have learned from us is adequate or there is more that they need.”
Unhappy with the School District’s opening response, the ACLU posed eight questions to the District in a followup letter sent July 23.
Mr. LaRose said that Asst. Supt. Eileen Carroll, who represented the administration throughout July while the District was changing superintendents, fully answered all eight.
Mr. LaRose said the next move is the ACLU’s.
“That is part of the exchange, “ he said. “They will be asking for information, and we certainly will be very available, willing and forthcoming with all of that.
“Beyond that is working with our team, our new principal and our staff to make sure school is up and ready, and that we are focused on serving the kids on the first day of school.
Since late June, the American Civil Liberties Union has been trying to learn whether the District will meet the state Education Code’s health and safety standards as it shifts the continuation school from its decades- long home at El Marino Language School to a parking lot where the bungalows/classrooms are in questionable condition.
‘Just Learning, but…’
“There will be a give-and-take,” Mr. LaRose said as he advanced on his first major case since starting his position last Wednesday.
“Not to use the hey-I’m-the-new-guy card too often, but I will say, I am just coming into the process and learning a little bit about what drove this decision.
“I want to make sure all of our elementary schools have all-day kindergartens. We needed to have facilities capacity at El Marino to be able to do that”
Apart from the potential legalities, Culver Park partisans are irked that 16- to 18-year-old students were thrown off the Sunkist Park campus they shared with El Marino to accommodate expansion of El Marino’s kindergarten. That vexes them nearly as much as being moved to the scenery-shy parking lot, which the District has pledged to dress up.
Exactly what that means is as clouded as other aspects of the move that has been publicly muted since a confusing decision was reached last March 23.
Which Way Were They Going?
According to Culver Park teachers, they were informed during the fore part of the day they would be transferred to what is known as the Adult School site on Overland Avenue, next door to the Julian Dixon Library. Same day, hours later, the District made a U-turn on the grounds the announced plan would have necessitated renovations that would have been too expensive. Saying oops, they told the staff a parking lot would be their September destination.
“The assurances are,” said Mr. LaRose, “that next year we are coming up with a temporary placement that will have absolute certainty that we never will jeopardize staff or student health and safety.
“We will make sure that is ready, up to speed and is acceptable to all stakeholders by the time school starts. Then we will work together with all stakeholders about what we will do, long term, with our Culver Park community.”
