KPAO by Dave Cortright

BCS' illegally appeal is simply delaying the inevitable

BCS is once again dragging its feet in court by filing and refusing to withdraw a clearly illegal appeal. Seems like they *really* want to put off the cross-complaint hearing. It makes me more and more curious what might actually come to light during the discovery that BCS does not want the public to know. As a public school, they should have absolutely nothing to hide.

I think Doug said it well in his post: the BCS supporters who have been imploring LASD to "follow the law" should turn around and urge their own board to do the same. BCS is only furthering the divide when they unnecessarily waste our time and money like this.

SCCOE is losing patience with BCS

There was some very interesting dialog at the SCCOE meeting on Wed April 3. You can listen for yourself here. A few key quotes:

Michael Chang: "we would like to see more ethnic and income diversity in your student population and that we made the point that we were looking for outcomes not your outreach efforts... in the context of the kind of dissension the ongoing strife in your community I thought that kind of approach [selling BCS as superior to LASD] certainly did not resonate well with me "

Joseph DiSalvo: "I see a community torn, too torn, for me to say this [renewing the BCS charter] is the right thing to do to continue to have a community so divided... I feel like my vote furthered a divide in an exceptional community in California... there's an emerging board majority that would not renew what you have... I don't want to certainly be here again next year listening to the same kind of thing."

This is extremely heartening to hear. SCCOE is finally listening to the community and pushing back on the BCS whitewashed marketing message. I hope that BCS takes this feedback from their governing agency to heart. Or if they don't, I hope SCCOE considers more direct action.

BCS outreach is not very effective

I couldn't make the meeting, but it sounds like many on the board echoed my sentiments below. BCS needs to be doing a much better job in reaching these under-served demographics. 

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From: Dave Cortright <davecortright@yahoo.com>
To: Joseph Di Salvo <josephsds1@aol.com>; Michael Chang <michael_chang@sccoe.org>; Anna Song <anna_song@sccoe.org>; Grace Mah <grace_mah@sccoe.org>; Julia Hover-Smoot <julia_hover-smoot@sccoe.org>; Leon Beauchman <leon_beauchman@sccoe.org>; Carmen Aminzadeh <Carmen_Aminzadeh@sccoe.org>; Xavier De La Torre <Xavier_DeLaTorre@sccoe.org>; Lucretia Peebles <Lucretia_Peebles@sccoe.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 11:58 PM
Subject: BCS outreach is not very effective

SCCOE,

I see that BCS is doing its annual presentation tomorrow. While there are a number of points that could be made about the presentation (such as the confrontational tone around facilities when they are the legal aggressors, or the fact that it's been all talk and no action when it comes to help you realize SJ2020), I will focus on one: their ineffective outreach.

p.4-5 lists a great number of initiatives that BCS took to reach a broader audience. But despite this, BCS continues to enroll statistically significantly fewer Hispanic, ELL, special ed, and low-SES students than LASD. One possible conclusion is that even though BCS is reaching these demographics, those families are ultimately turned off from applying or attending BCS. I am curious to understand why that is, and I hope you are too.

Because the truth of the matter is these students, the ones who have the most challenges to learning, are also the most expensive to educate. BCS knows this, and admitting these students would ruin their financial model. Through whatever mechanism is in place, the BCS admissions process is influencing these students to shy away from the school, which means that the BCS program discriminates against them.

Put bluntly, BCS is creaming. Despite increased outreach in getting the message out, these populations have spoken loud and clear: BCS will not work for our children. Don't you think BCS should work for these under-served classes? Isn't that what section 47601(b) is all about? Please ask hard questions of BCS leadership and hold them accountable for their underperformance in achieving racial and ethnic balance.

I'd also encourage you to reach out to people in these communities and understand why they choose not to attend BCS. I hear BCS has recently worked with some telemarketing firms. I'm sure they could help you out.

Thanks for listening.

·Dave Cortright

Bullis "compromise" isn't, and is actually illegal

So Bullis took out a full page ad in the Town Crier and also sent mailers to all of the households within the school district (see the picture at the bottom of this post). In it they claim a compromise with LASD to accept facilities split between Egan and Blach.

However a compromise requires that BOTH sides work together to come to a shared agreement. The Bullis "compromise" dictates the terms of that split, demanding concessions and additional facilities above and beyond what is legally required under Prop 39. The "compromise" was announced in a press conference without any participation from LASD. And this plan furthers their unilateral decision to double the size of their school body. If they truly wanted to be an asset to and serve the entire community, they would work together with LASD, the PTAs, and the broader community on these decisions. Instead, they do what they want and then get indignant at any sort of pushback.

And if in fact BCS did get what they asked for, they would be illegally running 2 independent charter schools with only one approved petition. SCCOE superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre has confirmed that if Bullis wants to operate a second completely independent school, they need to get a second charter petition approved. And they would first have to go to LASD with the proposal. Good luck with that.

Also, BCS' legal response to LASD's preliminary offer paints a much different picture. The word "compromise" appears nowhere in their documents. Instead, they harp on the fact that they are due a single site and how several of the LASD campuses would be just fine if you kick out all of those pesky non-charter students thankyouverymuch. Funny how none of that language made it into the press release.

Some other points from their letter that are pure spin and don't reflect reality: BCS is not a "start up". They are 10 years in and on track to be the biggest school in the district. BCS has done NOTHING to influence LASD curricula. There is absolutely no evidence that BCS has met with and influenced LASD staff on their programs. And to BCS claims they are a "public" school: Yes, they operate with public funds; But they also have access to tremendous private resources; they enroll statistically significantly fewer ELL, special needs, and Hispanic students than LASD; and they use tools like the $5000 de facto tuition to keep the undesirable kids away. BCS may operate under a public charter, but they do not act like a public school. I think this review on greatschools.com from a BCS parent illustrates this point very well:

We ultimately chose BCS because we felt it would be an easier transition for our kids, who were used to a more refined school environment. While not necessarily a bad thing, LASD has kids with some pretty severe learning differences who, according to some parents, can make classroom dynamics tough for the untrained teacher.

BCS reaches new levels of paranoia and desperation

Doug Smith's latest blog post just goes to show how BCS isn't really focused on facilities or education. Information on an anonymous internet author is not germane to the case yet they are afraid of any sort of dissent and they are doing everything in their power to control and suppress that. I learned this first hand during my campaign.

I'm actually glad that BCS continues to do these sorts of things, as it only goes to show the broader public their true nature. The "Compromise" ad is yet another of those. I'll post more on that one soon.

Choral concert March 15, 16, 17

I'm in the Bay Choral Guild this winter, and we're putting on an ambitious program for our winter concert coming up in mid-march. We're doing a bunch of Renaissance pieces by Bach, Brahms, and others, and also a very recent piece by composer Gabriel Jackson. If you like choral music or classical music, you will like this concert. I have discounted tickets. Send me an email if you're interested in coming. I'd love to have you in the audience. :-)

KQED story on BCS falls flat

Today's BCS story on NPR was nearly 8 months in the making. Yet for all of that time invested, it takes on an anemic "view from nowhere" stance that presents any opinion on a particular issue as equally valid and thus adding no value to actually interpreting the situation.

If in doing the serious work of journalism–digging, reporting, verification, mastering a beat–you develop a view, expressing that view does not diminish your authority. It may even add to it. The View from Nowhere doesn’t know from this. It also encourages journalists to develop bad habits. Like: criticism from both sides is a sign that you’re doing something right, when you could be doing everything wrong.

...

 When NPR forbids its “news analysts” from expressing a view on matters they are empowered to analyze—that’s dumb.

That about sums it up for me. Still, I am glad the media is reporting on this issue. The only way we are going to drive charter school reform is to get a lot more attention from the media on it.

A life fully worth living

Your central issue is a life fully worth living. The test is how you feel each day as you anticipate that day's experience. The same test is the best predictor of health and longevity. It is simple.

If it's simple, why doesn't everyone know it? The answer to that question is simple, too. We have been brought up to live by rules that mostly have nothing to do with making our lives worth living; some of them in fact are guaranteed not to. Many of our institutions and traditions introduce cultural distortions into our vision, provide us with beliefs and definitions that don't work, distract us from the task of building lives that are fully worth living, and persuade us that other things are more important.

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Read more here.

This makes me think of the biggest regret that many people have at the end of their lives: I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 

Doug Smith's open letter to BCS parents

In a recent letter to the BCS community, BCS board president Ken Moore asserted that LASD is challenging the very existence of BCS. Doug's response is long, but well worth reading.

http://lasdobserver.blogspot.com/2012/11/open-letter-to-bcs-parents.html

Unofficial semi-final results: 24,905 votes; 33.24%

While the results still are not final and certified until Dec 4, the current numbers show me getting 24,905 votes, which represents 33.24% of the vote. This is an amazing result, given all of the challenges I faced as a politcal newcomer without name recognition up against a cadre of charter proponents who did not want to see me win.

These numbers are hard evidence that there are a lot of people out there like me who are frustrated by the current direction of SCCOE. Although I did not win, I'm very proud of the outcome, especially the opportunity my campaign afforded me to raise awareness of the controversy surrounding charter school approval and oversight in Santa Clara County. Thanks again to all of my supporters. You made this happen.