Re “Why the ISPY Charter Was Turned Away, and the Reaction”
Ninety days and a new superintendent have almost magically transformed the professional lives of two hardy women determined to open a sui generis charter school in Culver City.
Call it artful respiration. Not artificial.
Last seen standing before the School Board on an uncongenial night in July, Jessica Jacobs and Florina Rodov were turned away by members in no mood to approve of a conceptualized charter school they asserted would poach on territory regarded as the virtually exclusive property of the School District.
Every previous charter school applicant has been rejected.
However, as other erstwhile exasperated parties in the District have learned during the upbeat first 71 days of Supt. Dave LaRose’s tenure, what formerly was drab can sprout back to productive life under Mr. LaRose’s uniquely nurturing touch.
A New Day
Taking to literal heart the Board’s declared concerns, Ms. Jacobs and Ms. Rodov drastically have revamped and enlarged their petition for ISPY, the Innovatory School for Professional Youth, a virtual school for at-risk children and professionals, such as actors and athletes.
Ms. Jacobs made a brief appearance at last night’s School Board meeting, but, according to both women, the essence of reblossoming of their dramatic adventure is playing out off stage.
After a private meeting with Mr. LaRose, Ms. Jacobs’s outlook was powerfully rejuvenated about eventually birthing their charter plan.
Making an Imprint
“I was thoroughly impressed with him,” she said with a characteristically wide swatch of reborn vigor and unquenchable optimism.
“I had very low expectations going in, just because it’s better to go in with low expectations.”
Ms. Jacobs’s hard-working feistiness is no secret among her friends.
“From the get-go, he could see I was in a combative place already,” she admiitted.
“He said, ‘Hold on. Don’t put me with what happened in the past. I am learning all about this. Don’t assume I am going to take (the same rejection position) just because they hired me, or whatever.’
“I thanked him for that immediately. And I apologized.
“I was very encouraged. What was so encouraging from our meeting was that the superintendent, from what I gathered, really believes in our program.
“Whether he wants to do it on his own in the District, or have us do it, is a question,” Ms. Jacobs said, speaking at a mercurial speed.
“I hope he chooses the latter, of course.
Concurrence
“He could not agree more with all of the points that I made about (a) why we chose Culver City, (b) why we are working with Big Picture, the internships, the project-based learning, the need for professional actors and at-risk children.
“I mean, he was all on-board with everything. His biggest concern is the same concern that the Board has, and that is the money. I should say, the same concern the Board seemed to have, publicly, before the staff report came out.
“And, of course, that is not a legal reason to deny the petition. So it wasn’t mentioned in the staff report. But our understanding from the Board comments, before and during the meeting, was that it was a financial issue.
“We get that.
“We see that it is a financial issue because the District doesn’t make any money…”
Ms. Jacobs said that she and Ms. Rodov “really can’t” ameliorate the fiscal worries. “But we do have ideas. It’s not our responsibility to do that, though. “
An educator by training, Ms. Jacobs appears well-versed in regulations surrounding the founding of a charter school, especially an unorthodox one.
“The law is the way the law is,” she says. “For us to have the opportunity to do this, it is written into the law.
“I equated it to the special education law (when addressing the School Board minutes earlier) because the Board – two or three of them at the vote meeting (10 July) said ‘We are so upset that ISPY would ask us to spend the District’s funds on reviewing such a petition.’
“And they can’t just say they don’t want to spend money on it. It is like saying they don’t want to spend money on any other required part of the Ed Code.
“There is nothing we can do, although I did say to Mr. LaRose, as we said to (retired Super) Patti (Jaffe last spring), that we want to work with the District so we aren’t a burden to the District.
“The services we provide to our students, why not provide them to the rest of the District? That would be one way to alleviate the potential financial burden that they would get by losing a student or two here or there.”
