Truly Meaningless
Board member Dr. Jessica Beagles-Roos said at the last meeting that the vote taken opposing the transfer really didn’t mean anything.
She said that what the School Districts governing board thought about the transfer really didn’t matter.
If the School Board had not been asked by the County for its opinion and it had no say, then why did the Board even vote on the matter in the first place?
Speculation
Was it to just placate the very vocal minority voicing its bitter opposition to the transfer?
To answer Dr. Dana Russell’s claim that the number of Ladera Heights students was “unknowable,” the County reported that there would be an influx of 377 new resident students into the District.
Not 150. Not 700. The figure was 377.
At about $6,350 per student in ADA (average daily attendance) money, that’s about $2.4 million.
A Gathering of Skeptics
I can only guess that Dr. Russell and the rest of the Board did not believe the County’s figure.
Board President Marla Wolkowitz did point out later that when the very controversial transfer of Fox Hills into Culver City occurred back in the 1970s, there had been only an influx of 90 students throughout the district.
No Time for Glasses
With no projected end in sight to the decrease in School District enrollment, compounding the loss of District revenues, maybe this time the School Board can leave its “polarized glasses” off long enough to see the Ladera Heights transfer for what it really is:
Our neighbors only seeking a better education for their children than what their own local district is willing to provide.
