[img]1131|left|Patti Jaffe||no_popup[/img]Like a deadbeat tenant being evicted for blowing off the rent, the teachers and students of Culver Park High School – lucky them – get to spend their summer on their knees, packing hundreds of plebian boxes. As a reward for their intense toil, they will kiss their favorite grounds goodbye and reluctantly transfer all of their earthly goods to a parking lot, their new home.
You should hear the people who don’t have to go to school in a parking lot rave about what a magical destination it is.
Practically a resort people are fighting to visit on holiday.
On Culver Park’s new campus, grass is a rumor.
Trees are so yesterday.
Asphalt is the cool new trend in campuses – for continuation schools.
A generation and a half into Culver Parks history, after debuting briefly at the Vets Auditorium, it only has known one home, the leafy golden green campus of El Marino Language School nestled in the bosom of one of the community’s most desirable neighborhoods.
For normal families, quitting a cozy home to camp out in a parking lot is not listed under the rubric of being upwardly mobile.
Perhaps a description has not yet been conceived.
The genesis of Culver Park’s eviction from the only home it has known, is as murky as the environment that faculty and students fear they will encounter during the novelty of Parking Lot Learning.
The question was put to Supt. Patti Jaffe, who is retiring next Friday after 42 years in the School District:
Who made the decision that Culver Park should move?
“Over a year ago, the discussion was brought up that El Marino was the only school that did not have full-day kindergarten. That has been something based on equity and the fact the students who do have full-day kindergarten are doing better as they move up the grades.
“El Marino needed that space also. El Marino used to be a K-6 elementary school. I don’t know how many years ago Culver Park went there because they didn’t have another space.
“Basically, the only way to do it, because of the space, is that El Marino needs to take over that space to make sure they also had a full-day kindergarten.
“Culver Park, for over a year, has known that this year they would be moving.”
Question: Who was the person who said “Culver Park must go”?
“There was no person. The Board of Education makes the decision that El Marino was going to be full-day kindergarten, and that the only thing to do would have to be move Culver Park.”
Question: Culver Park did not have any say in the matter?
“Yes. We went to Culver Park and said, ‘Look, next year, you know that we’re going to have to move. And we did start looking at other places. They knew this last year.”
Question: But Culver Park did not have a choice in the matter?
“Actually, based on the fact El Marino was going to have to be full-day kindergarten, Ms. (Marianne) Turner (the former principal) knew, and she said that was okay. The teachers had been met with also.
“We have looked at all different ways. We looked at putting more bungalows at El Marino. We looked at moving things out so it would all work. But it didn’t work. We really tried. We tried to figure out where we could put more bungalows to accommodate the full-day kindergarten.
“We looked at other places to put Culver Park. It just… For right now, it wasn’t working.”
Question: What about using the Adult School, next to the library on Overland Avenue?
“You can’t. I had architects over there. It would cost a fortune, and we do not own the building. L.A. Goal and CCUSD rent from the city. To put all of that money into a building we don’t own…”
Question: The bungalows in the parking lot have not been certified?
“The bungalows are fine. They are DSA approved.”
Question: Theoretically, Culver Park could move in tomorrow?
“No, they have to be fixed up.
“The Adult School has been using the bungalows. There used to be Opportunity classes out there a million years ago. This was before Culver Park.”
Question: What do you say to Culver Park people who object to the move?
“I believe when they are all fixed up, and by the way, I have to tell you that the Farragut (School) parents have offered to come and help, help with landscaping, help with the environment, whatever they can do. They are very, very willing to come and make sure that it is successful. Culver Park kids were so great when they helped over at El Marino that we even thought they could read to the kids (of Farragut). There are all kinds of possibilities.
“I think once it is all fixed, all done…”
Question: You know there is rancor in the ranks.
“I understand. It’s unfortunate, but it might not be forever. All you can do is do the best you can to make sure those students have a good environment to learn and continue on.”
Question: If Culver Park’s controversial move is temporary, what are the options?
“We don’t know.”
