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Saturday, August 10, 2019

CARL J. PETERSEN: Charter Schools Vs. Public School Students

Charter Schools Vs. Public School Students

Charter Schools Vs. Public School Students
Transparency is key.”
– CCSA Email marked “Confidential”
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is not always a welcoming place for a person who needs accommodations. According to a report released on October 25, 2017, a child with a physical disability would be unable to enter through the main entrance of one-fifth of the schools within the District. Once inside, they could not access all areas above the first floor in a quarter of all facilities. “Fewer than one-third of schools have accessible restrooms on campus.

In an attempt to fix this problem, the district allocated $600 million from construction bond funds “to make schools more accessible to disabled students.” Since this would reduce the funds available for charter schools to use for their own projects, the California Charter School Association (CCSA) sued the LAUSD claiming that using the bond funds to make schools more accessible as “the board approved were unlawful.” After Board Member Nick Melvoin disclosed to the CCSA that the Office of General Counsel was confident in the district’s legal footing, it became clear that the charter school industry would not be able to use the suit as a way to make the district relent. The suit was dropped.
I’m concerned that they are not expressing concern for making our schools, where some of their charters are located, more accessible to disabled students, especially given the situation where charters are frequently accused of not supporting special ed kids.
– David Holmquist, LAUSD General Counsel
As Michael Kohlhaas dot org continues to release the treasure trove of confidential documents that it has obtained from the charter school industry, it is increasingly clear that the long-time accusation that these publicly funded private schools are obsessed with keeping their operations free from the prying eyes of the public is true. They  CONTINUE READING: Charter Schools Vs. Public School Students