Unanswered questions about co-location

Schools continue to fight being forced to share space with charters

By Julie Washington
UTLA Elementary Vice President

The charter school co-location threat has brought many quiet campuses to life. Over the past two months, UTLA has held a series of strategy sessions to build knowledge of Proposition 39 and to help sites organize a response to co-location.

Now that 19 schools have been taken off the co-location list, we are focusing our efforts on those remaining sites with concerns that sharing space with a charter will negatively impact learning at their school. All chapter chairs from sites that continue to be slated for co-location were invited to a third strategy session on June 3, during which participants shared valuable information and offered support for each other as they continue to struggle through tough times.

One message that came out of our meeting was that sometimes out of bad situations comes the greatest opportunity. Two schools that were successful in their efforts to fight back on charter school co-location shared their stories. Nevin Avenue teachers Carmen Acosta and Cathy Proctor reported that their school’s principal was helpful and connected with staff. Parents organized around this issue and got involved and are now pressing to make the school safer and more attractive to the community. Wadsworth Elementary teacher Robin Potash reported a similar response and added that the staff and community want to continue their work and focus on increasing student achievement and site autonomy. Both of these schools were able to fight back on colocation and have stepped up to serve as resources and support to the schools still on the list. At their schools, the fight against co-location helped unify parents and motivated teachers and staff.

All chapter chairs expressed concern for their sites’ ability to deal with colocation and maintain a focus on student achievement. Many of the schools still on the list to be co-located reported that bad administration and/or multiple administrations has had a direct relation to teachers transferring from sites and students and their parents abandoning their home sites. Both of these by-products weaken the site and create fertile ground for charter schools.

They also identified some of the strengths of public schools, such as Highly Qualified teachers and diverse campuses serving all students, from special needs to gifted. They also indentified how UTLA can help their efforts by providing, among other things, parent information sheets, trainings in organizing, and ongoing support for chapter chairs.

Major co-location concerns
Chapter chairs, many of whom feel abandoned by the District, have numerous unanswered questions about the co-location process. Here are some of the questions that were identified at the strategy session.

Facility usage
Restrooms: How is use decided? If the charter wants to share the restrooms, who monitors them? Brian Fictum from Hobart Elementary was concerned about this in particular because a middle school is slated to co-locate his site. “What about 14-year-olds sharing restrooms with four- and five-yearolds?” he asks. If they bring portable restrooms on campus, who assures the cleanliness? Is there hot water available for washing hands?

Playground: How is that juggled? Does the charter school have rights to the yard? What is the procedure? Already at least one of the co-located schools has been informed that the yard will be used at one o’clock, so does that mean the students will no longer have a right to physical education? How are the sites to deal with students who are being disruptive during instructional time?

Parking: Very few co-located sites have been given plans for parking. Many sites do not currently have enough parking spaces available for the teachers and staff right now. Adding insult to injury, La Salle Elementary is being forced to give up part of their current parking lot to provide play space for the co-locating charter school. At a time when so many schools and communities are plagued with shootings and other violent acts, forcing staff members to walk through neighborhoods to get back and forth to their transportation puts them in unsafe circumstances.

Dropoff/Pickup: Not one school has reported a plan for a student dropoff or pickup system. How will traffic patterns be affected? Of particular concern are elementary schools being colocated with secondary schools. Will dismissal times be staggered so very young children are not contending with teenagers?

Other facility issues: How is the lunch area to be shared? Whose needs take priority? If they put porta-potties on campus, where do the students wash their hands? How does the school community respond to losing rooms and other facilities that have been co-located? Many schools have reported that they have lost parent centers, science labs, computer labs, and so on.

Personnel
School Personnel: Custodian services are slated to be shared at many sites. This is of great concern, considering that custodial services have been cut through the years and an additional cut is slated in the current District budget proposal. I visited one of these campuses and spoke to the custodian about his workload. He told me that they used to have a three-person custodial team and now it’s just him. He doesn’t know how he is going to be able to cover any more than what he does without skipping some very vital areas. This without question is a safety and health issue that puts children and staff in potentially unhealthy circumstances.

It’s said that nursing services will be shared at some sites. If there is an emergency, are our members going to be required to render services to non-LAUSD students? What about the liability issues?

Discipline: Discipline and misbehavior of students are major concerns. Who is responsible? What if there are issues between the students? Who intervenes and applies solutions? At 42nd Street Elementary (which is already co-located by a middle school) the chapter chair reports that she has to contend with teenagers finding spots to “make out” and she is left to intervene and then explain to her young students that what they are witnessing is very inappropriate behavior.

Emergency Plan: What happens in an earthquake, fire, or lockdown? Who is responsible? Are there cross responsibilities?

In response to this flood of questions, we are setting up a meeting with the District to get answers and to demand that they not leave our school vulnerable to the consequences of co-location.

Published in the United Teacher Volume XXXVIII, Number 11, June 13, 2008