Re “Change of Plans for Culver Park High School”
The slender shaft of sunny news for Culver Park High School – now that its backyard parking lot landing space has been changed, unannounced until now – is that facilities not only will be ready on time but early.
Asst. Supt. Eileen Carroll said the School District expects to have the single bungalow that will serve as the continuation school’s home base in ready-to-fly form by a week from Friday, on Aug. 24, five days before teachers are scheduled to report.
Tuesday, Sept.4, the day after Labor Day, is Opening Day for Culver Park’s first new campus in about 30 years.
Who Knows?
Based on public pronouncements, the School Board may not be much more clued in than the unelected portion of the community. Board President Karlo Silbiger’s most recent comment on Culver Park was that the Board would reassess its physical plant in October. However, it is most unlikely, School District officials indicated, any further disruptive change would take place in the near term.
Ms. Carroll recounted what happened earlier in the summer when the District was forced to make a major detour from its proudly announced plans.
“The two initial buildings we were going to put Culver Park in, we discovered they were not (Dept. of State Architect) approved,” she said.
“There is another large bungalow, next to these two that was going to be vacant. It is DSA-approved. It is newer and nicer.
“We will bring in a (separate) DSA-approved portable bungalow for the office staff and for the Break Room.”
Ms. Carroll told the newspaper that the District “most likely” intends to have the antique bungalows hauled away, to be replaced by two newer ones that meet public school standards.
For months, the sub-standard bungalows had been touted as ideal substitute classrooms for the Culver Park students.
Hardly a Difference?
District officials insisted that the grim-looking, remote, grass-free parking lot was an even tradeoff for the traditional, spacious, sun-splashed, equipment-rich learning rooms Culver Park had used for almost three decades on the Sunkist Park campus it shared with El Marino Language School.
In the words of new Supt. Dave LaRose, who stepped into a messy situation:
“The majority of concerns shared, including the ACLU letter and request for information, were primarily tied to these buildings. Upon learning that questions existed regarding DSA approval many years ago, any plans/actions relative to these buildings were terminated. Therefore, concerns about the space, restroom access and other matters are no longer relevant.”
The daunting but so far strongly downplayed presence of the American Civil Liberties Union looming in the background unquestionably has affected the School District’s frantic summer scramble to accommodate Culver Park.
To what degree is not – yet – clear.
The ACLU has not filed a case to date. But observers believe the threat of legal action has been a muscular motivation for the District and has elevated the District’s alert level.
For months, the District confidently was citing the two unfit bungalows as Culver Park’s new home without ever pursuing verification.
As for the now-discarded bungalows, Ms. Carroll explained what happened. “Because they had been used for the Adult School,” she said, “within the whole movement the assumption was made the bungalows were DSA-approved because they housed all of those students. So there never was a thought that (approval) was an issue.
“But as we worked through the process, we found out that they were not DSA approved.”
How recently was this rather jolting information learned?
“Not that long ago,” Ms. Carroll said. “A number of weeks.”
She said the switch in bungalows will neither derail or delay planning for the new school term.
“We are easily going to be prepared for the start of school,” Ms. Carroll said. “Actually, this change turns out to be helpful in a way because the new bungalow has bathrooms attached. We were going to have to bring in a new bathroom facility.”
