A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

“I don’t want to move, I don’t want to move”- Agitated students at CTC — West

When the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced plans to make school buildings more accessible for those with disabilities, it was met with a lawsuit from the California Charter School Association (CCSA). These publicly funded private schools serve a lesser percentage of children with special education needs than their public school counterparts and, therefore, did not have a vested interest in the district spending money correcting atrocious conditions on aging campuses. Instead, they wanted to divert funds to their own organizations to benefit their various real estate schemes.

As revealed in confidential documents uncovered by Michael Kohlhaas dot org, Board Member Nick Melvoin and his senior advisor, Allison Holdoroff Pothill, held a private meeting with representatives of the charter school industry where they “passed on a great deal of privileged information about LAUSD’s legal strategy to [them]. He also agreed to intervene with LAUSD’s lawyers to further CCSA’s interests.” By assisting the CCSA as they pursued lawsuits against the District Melvoin ignored his responsibility to the 80% of students that attend public schools, the moral obligations to the most CONTINUE READING: A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education