Part 3
[Editor’s Note: See Part 2 of the interview with Ronni Cooper, president of the Ladera Heights Civic Assn., in her home in racially mixed Ladera Heights, under News, “ From Ladera: Cataloguing the Decline and Fall of Inglewood Schools,” Jan. 25.]
In the final installment in this series discussing the proposal by Ladera Heights’ families to transfer their children from Inglewood public schools to Culver City, Ronni Cooper talks about her recent “encouraging” meeting with Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote, the Superintendent of the School District since last January — and much fierier topics.
“Dr. Cote had the right cachet for this,” Ms. Cooper said. “She understood, she was in favor of our coming because, of course, she was looking at the financial part.
“ That it was a good administrator would do, see the benefits for the district. She was not concerned about overcrowding because she knew if our kids came, she would just not give out as many permits.
“Culver City has between 1500 and 1700 kids on permits.
A Surprise for Parents?
“They have a small group of parents whose attitude is, ‘Get rid of all the permits.’ I have talked to him. I said, ‘Are you crazy? Do you not realize that if you get rid of the permits you will be closing schools, you will be getting rid of teachers, you will be losing programs? You will have nothing.’
“And the answer was, ‘Oh, yeah, we have a lot of young kids, and they will be in the schools.’
“No, they won’t. There won’t be any schools near their homes for them to attend.
“Dr. Cote’s reaction to us when we came in to talk to her — she obviously came after the fact and was not involved — was that she doesn’t know from any of the nastiness that went on. She is looking at it in a purely pragmatic way, to say, ‘Boy, that would be great.’
“I think if it were up to her, because of the financial part, and the fact that (Ladera) is a good community and the kids would be good students and they wouldn’t have a lot of problems, she would favor it.
“But I don’t want to put words in her mouth. What I am saying is, Dr. Cote is pragmatic. She understands that for the District, (a Ladera transfer) would solve some of their financial and student number problems.”
Question: From your perspective, is replacing a significant number of permit students in Culver City a reasonable expectation or a longshot?
“I don’t have any idea, honestly.
“We are trying different avenues, as I said. Some of our students already are in Culver City. Inglewood District has been very reluctant to give out permits. That is part of what prompted us to try leaving this district in the first place. People were treated so poorly when they went to the Inglewood District School Office. They were refused permits, and they had to jump through hoops and go to the County.
“We said there must be another way. Families started writing letters to the (Civic) Association and asked us to please do something because they were treated so poorly by Inglewood.
“Inglewood can do whatever they want to do there. It is not going to have any effect on our desire to leave, until we would see that school is going to be turned around. And no one is going to want to wait for that.”
Question: If you were standing before the parent community in Culver City, what would you tell them?
“I would try to convey to them the surveys we did that say how many (transferring) students we are talking about. Our numbers, that attend Inglewood schools now, showed less than a hundred, not even the 300 Inglewood said.
“We have good kids. And it would be to their benefit, both financially and educationally, to have our students in the (Culver City) schools.
“They would have fewer permits. It would reduce traffic because our students would carpool.
“Overall, the academic excellence of the District would increase.
The Race Factor
“But I will tell you, the underlying factor, whether anyone wants to admit it, is that there are racial overtones to all of this that you can’t escape.
“What can you do? Nothing. That is why Inglewood raised the issue the way it did, to make it appear that 900 black gang members would be coming to Culver City — to frighten those parents who perceive their District incorrectly.
“A lot of those white parents think (Culver City) is an all-white District. They apparently have not looked at the statistics from the District. It’s majority Hispanic, similar to Inglewood, which is majority Hispanic.
“Whites are quite in the minority. If they would subtract out the permit students, they would have one heckuva mess in there with numbers and trying to figure out which schools to close. They want their little neighborhood school. But if they take away the permits, their little neighborhood school might be the one that closes. There is no way they could keep all those schools open.”
Question: Do the adverse rulings by Los Angeles County and the state prevent you from exploring options?
“No, nothing will. Does it make it more difficult to come up with something? Yes. But we are not going to stop doing what we are doing. Many of our students now, on permit, attend the Wiseburn School District, more, I think, than are in Culver City.
“The test scores in Wiseburn are phenomenal. We met with the superintendent there. He was very receptive to us because he is a smart guy and wanted to increase his enrollment. While everybody else has declining enrollment, he has increasing enrollment. He has a small district with fabulous teachers and outstanding programs, modern and new.
“Part of what’s happening is, by word of mouth from our first students who went to Wiseburn, many of our students are more interested in going there than Culver City.”
Question: Have you scheduled a meeting with Dr. Cote?
“No. But I talked to her right after the (Jan. 10 state ruling). I told her I would try to come up with other ideas and get back to her.
“I am not familiar enough with her situation in Culver City to know whether she has School Board support or doesn’t.
“Superintendents’ tenures are so nebulous. Whatever the election is today, the new Board comes in and everything changes.
The Scourge of the Education Leader
“The only way you are ever going to fix schools, the first thing you do is get rid of school boards. I know. I served on one.
“Most people who are on a school board — (a) don’t have a clue about what they are doing, (b) don’t know anything about education but think they do, and (c) want some higher political office, and they are using the school board as a way to get there.
“Or (d) just want the health benefits.
The ‘Worst’ Is Coning
“Hardly any school board members have kids in the schools. When I was on the Inglewood District School Board, I was the only one with a kid in any school. I am sure if we look in Culver City, it won’t be any different.
“The worst part of any school board is they all want to micromanage. They all want to tell the superintendent what to do. The reason a superintendent is hired by any district is to be the “educational leader.’
“But that’s not their main job. Their main job is to keep their job by making board members happy. That is all they can do. That is how they spend their entire day.
“School boards are stupid.
“What their purpose is in this modern age, I have no idea, It is not about checks and balances. In most bigger districts, school boards are bought and paid for by teachers’ unions. So they give out money whether they have it or not.”
Which seemed like a quiet place to conclude the conversation.
