The city says it has sent numerous letters to the Academy. City representatives have visited the grounds. But staffers have been unable to achieve the appropriate paperwork. City officials say that, among other documents, they have implored the Star Prep Academy to just apply for a conditional use permit without success. Filing an application was characterized by the city as a condition of remaining in business in their present location. Still nothing happened, the city says.
They Are Living Together
Not by coincidence, the 50-student private school quietly, unobtrusively occupies a portion of the Star-Eco Station’s building in the heart of an industrial district on the north side of Jefferson Boulevard. Members of the Bozzi family — widowed mother, son and daughter — founded and operate both institutions. In three important ways, the two enviro-centrist groups are linked — philosophically, emotionally and physically. At a glance, certain elements of the story are vague. Exactly which family members operate which portions of which business are unclear. The certificated validations that the Star Eco Station received from City Hall when it opened at its current address appear to have been assumed by the Academy as part of its legal right when it opened a little later — “a little later” because the formal opening is not known. The Star Eco Station’s business tax certificate permits a concept known as “educational services.” But City Hall says the certificate was not intended to allow for the fact that a school, almost invisibly, would emerge on the grounds. “Educational services,” according to the city, “includes hands-on lessons of ecology and environmentalism through exhibits.” The concept does not imply “and is not considered a school.” Additionally, a city Building official said that “several life safety issues exist that relate to the seismic stability of the building, exit doors, exit door hardware, exit capacity, exit signage and emergency egress lighting.”
One Explanation
The mother of the family, Katia Bozzi, who started the academy, says the school’s lack of certification is “a matter of miscommunication.” She told thefrontpageonline.com this morning that she did not want to elaborate. An alumna of St. Augustine School who lived in the neighborhood, on Keystone, when she was growing up as Katia Gomez, she lavished praise on her hometown. “I love this city,” she said. “It has been so supportive of us, especially when my (46-year-old) husband was dying (in 1997). We have had offers from other cities, but I have a special love for Culver City. We opened our second Star Eco Station last month, and we are opening our third, in San Francisco, in the near future.” Ms. Bozzi identifies herself as an educator first but also a passionate environmentalist. In another compartment of her life, Ms. Bozzi travels to cities around the state to offer unique, homegrown programs that she says will help students to increase their closely watched test scores. A steadily breathing concern for the environment, Ms. Bozzi says, is what drives her career mission teaching communities that environment and standard education are interlocking and inseparable. “People who care about families,” she said, “have to care about the environment. Education is about creating responsible human beings. Learning is not the sum of how much you have memorized but how you use it.”
One Complied, One Didn’t
The Eco-Star Station, described as a “non-profit environmental education museum and exotic wildlife rescue center,” evidently complied with the city’s regulations when it took over the property at 10101 Jefferson Blvd. six years ago. Schools of various stripes have operated at the Jefferson address, continuously — if not officially — for the last 25 years, as it turns out. A series of adult schools met there in the early 1980s followed by the ERAS school. ERAS, which specializes in children with disabilities, was at 10101 from 1987 until 2000. Then the Star Eco Station, started in 1997 by the brother and sister team of Erick and Katiana Bozzi, and their late father, Eric, moved into the building. Within weeks after Star Eco relocated, what would become the Star Prep Academy, began to take shape. Katia Bozzi acknowledged that the first students were accepted in 2000, “one or two.” From this modest start, a formal school evolved. The Star Prep Academy seems have been built on a foundation that stresses selectivity of students, compactness of size, and informality. Courses are suffused with information about and a sensitive love for the environment. Each of the 50 students, between grades 6 and 12, is on an individual scholastic track tailored specifically for his needs. The Academy atmosphere, Katia Bozzi said, is “more like university, like early college” than a traditional grammar or high school. In the absence of structured classrooms, students are on their own, she indicated. The founder said she does not know how much tuition is, but she believes it is around $15,000. The Academy is not yet accredited. But, Ms. Bozzi says, the course work of every student is accepted by the University of California system.
