Changing Directions
Three months after telling the school it had run out of chances and ordered the seemingly defiant leaders of the tiny middle-high school to cease and desist by Nov. 5, the divided Council pulled sharply back. The Council did not exactly say, We were just kidding last August when we told you to close down and find a new location, pronto. But that is kissing-close to the truth of what happened. The Council did not rescind its shutdown order. Neither, however, did it npt make any effort to enforce the directive. For repeatedly failing to comply with city business regulations since the year 2000, more or less, the City Council decided to get tough two weeks before the start of a new academic year. But that was before the Council decided to get soft 75 days into the school year. Ms. Bozzi stood before the Council and delivered a remarkable soliloquy that some Council members thought was fraught with chutzpah. She gave a meandering, imprecise 5-minute presentation. Some members of the City Council were baffled by her speech. They wondered later what she had said.
Postscript
Vice Mayor Alan Corlin said he led the charge to grant an open-ended extension to the Star Prep Academy for two reasons. First, he said, the school (unwittingly?) harmed its chances by failing to make a strong presentation to the Council on Aug. 21. The school dispatched its attorney, who was deemed inadequate. Mr. Corlin said his second reason was all of those Culver City students who attend the school. He indicated he felt sorry for them.
