“Golden” Granada Hills Charter High School: Scofflaws When It Comes to California Ed Code?
By Carl Petersen. “I am a former candidate for the District 3 seat on the LAUSD School Board, founder of Change The LAUSDand member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. Opinions are my own.”
-Granada Hills Charter High School
If you had your car stolen and then saw it being driven on the streets, your first call would probably be to the local police department. It would not be unreasonable for you to expect that these trained professionals would take care of the situation by confronting the driver and taking appropriate action. But what would you think if they instead told you that it was your responsibility to find out why the person was driving your car? This is essentially what the LAUSD’s Charter Schools Division (CSD) does in handling complaints.
Once the LAUSD becomes the authorizing entity for a charter school, it “is responsible for ensuring the charter school operates in compliance with all applicable laws and terms of its charter.” However, in three separate cases, I have contacted the CSD to report that Granada Hills Charter High School may be operating outside the boundaries of California Ed Code and in all three cases the division failed to take meaningful action. In May, I reported that the school was charging up to $60.00 for graduation caps and gowns despite a California Department of Education policy that states that “a district may not require students to purchase a cap and gown as a condition of participating in the graduation ceremony.” The CSD’s Alex Gomez did not force them to issue refunds and then took a place on the graduation dais as the school’s honored guest. At the beginning of September, I expressed concern about the school’s plans to release student data to a lobbying organization, but have not received a response beyond “we’re looking into it.” The most current situation involves the school’s stated policy of retaliating against students whose parents have opted them out of standardized testing.
Parents can opt their children out of state mandated standardized tests “by writing a note to the school administrators citing California Ed Code 60615: ‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a parent’s or guardian’s written request to school officials to excuse his or her child from any or all parts of the assessments administered pursuant to this chapter shall be granted.” While schools cannot retaliate "Golden" Granada Hills Charter High School: Scofflaws When It Comes to California Ed Code?: