September 9, 2011
Community Harvest Charter School
Board of Directors: Lourdes Castro Ramirez, Jaime Maldonado, Gipson Lyles,
In August of 2008, YOU, the Board of Directors, and the current two administrators lied to the parents, students, teachers and community about the temporary move of CHCS to Sherman Oaks. All stakeholders were told that the move was for one year, yet the two current administrators signed a five-year lease for the building in Sherman Oaks. According to the Articles of Incorporation, Community Harvest is supposed to be located in South Los Angeles, and then it could expand to other areas. Why would you want to continue busing the students to Sherman Oaks when several facilities were found in South Los Angeles? Or did the same administration not inform you of these sites? Money has gone to waste, instead of being invested in educational programs. It has cost CHCS approximately $300,000 per year to bus students to Sherman Oaks. Did you know that there was a change in the bus company after the first contacted an administrator about CHCS not paying the bill? It is your responsibility to look into the management of money. Should you not be informed of these changes, especially for the approval of major contracts? It has also cost CHCS approximately $525,000 to rehab a building that is not property of the school, but whose lease required CHCS to take on the responsibility of all repairs. This is the STUDENTS’ money!!
Instead of enriching students with quality education, you helped enrich a building that does not belong to CHCS. As the Board of Directors your number 1 priority SHOULD be student achievement. How much money has gone into that? Please compare that to the expenses at Sherman Oaks. CHCS is in need of educational services/tutoring programs. Since not one Board Member was present at the Orientation, August 30th, 2011, let me tell you what parents were told. It was mentioned that CHCS was not satisfied with the 92% graduation rate and college admission. Their goal was to raise it to 100%, yet they did not mention one program that will help with this. The only tutoring mentioned was the opportunity for students to asked questions in the morning before class and during their breaks. As one of the administrators was approached in regards to this issue, all that was mentioned was that they were working with new services and had new initiatives. But, once again could not give concerned families the names of any of these programs. You should be concerned too. The Board should also be concerned about raising money for the school!! On a side note, can you also compare money used for educational programs to the increase of salary for the two current administrators since they first started working at CHCS, keep in mind that they don’t have credentials. By the way, who approves their raise?
And, where is the safety for the students? There is no supervision on the bus. At the orientation, an administrator mentioned that there will be an “adult driver” in each bus, but we all know that they should be focused on the road. Last school year, there was only one staff member riding on the bus. When students were acting up in one bus, they would pull over on the freeway so that she could get on the bus with the misbehaving students. When a bus broke down on the freeway, one student went out to fix it. I hope you agree that this is not safe. And, once again, this school year started off with no supervision on buses. And, shouldn’t there be teacher supervision at Holman Methodist Church, the drop off location? They did not have it last year, and did not start this school year either. Not only are we concerned, but the community is concerned. “Dropping the kids from Community Harvest to Sherman Oaks by bus is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Jerry Smith from the West Adams Neighborhood Council. “Parents are lucky nothing has happened—yet.” Mr. Smith and other neighbors are concerned because there is no supervision for Community Harvest students in the morning or in the evening. Neighbors have complained to Holman Church, but nothing has been done. “I have lived here since 1955. I have seen a lot of accidents and I have seen people killed,” Smith said. You need to ensure that our C-Harv family is kept safe.
It is disappointing to see that you have done nothing to keep Community Harvest as one of the top performing charter schools in the country. You have allowed the mismanagement of student resources and have done nothing about the low academic performance. It is saddening to see my alma mater go downhill! Enough is enough. WE WANT YOUR HANDS OFF OUR SCHOOL...IMMEDIATELY!! We need new administrators and a new Board of Directors that will help restore the success and culture that Community Harvest Charter School once had!
Diana Garcia
Community Harvest
Class of 2007
UCLA, Class of 2011
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