Parents, students want to rename Cortines campus
Parents, students and staff have voted in favor of changing the name of the downtown Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, setting up an unprecedented conflict within the nation’s second-largest school system.
It’s been less than a year since the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to name its visually striking, $232-million arts high school after Ramon C. Cortines, who had just retired as L.A. schools superintendent. Cortines, 80, has been a leading national figure in education, an advocate for the arts and was involved in establishing the arts high school.
But the school board, following the wishes of school board President Monica Garcia, overrode its own process for naming the school, angering students and parents who had been involved. Then, the issue flamed up further when a district employee sued Cortines alleging sexual harassment.
Last week, the school system, which was defending Cortines, prevailed in court because the harassment claim
It’s been less than a year since the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to name its visually striking, $232-million arts high school after Ramon C. Cortines, who had just retired as L.A. schools superintendent. Cortines, 80, has been a leading national figure in education, an advocate for the arts and was involved in establishing the arts high school.
But the school board, following the wishes of school board President Monica Garcia, overrode its own process for naming the school, angering students and parents who had been involved. Then, the issue flamed up further when a district employee sued Cortines alleging sexual harassment.
Last week, the school system, which was defending Cortines, prevailed in court because the harassment claim