Members of the Community Harvest Charter School board of directors:
I write this letter as a concerned former teacher at Community Harvest Charter School (C-Harv) and as member of the community in which C-Harv once flourished.
I began my teaching career six years ago at Community Harvest Charter School. I was immediately wowed by the very different, warm and family like environment of the school. I was impressed that teacher’s ate lunch with students, everyone knew everyone and the students cared as much about education as their teachers did. It was an excellent introduction to the teaching profession. Although my time with Community Harvest was only two years, I carried with me fond memories of this very holistic environment in which students were actually flourishing. In addition to memories, I maintained rich relationships with many of the teachers and students from C-Harv. I even got the opportunity to direct and mentor some of my former C-Harv students in various areas of the performing arts.
Throughout the years I have heard a lot of rumblings about things going on at Community Harvest. I was shocked and disheartened that the school was moved out of its birth place of South Los Angeles and that students would be bused to Sherman Oaks each day. I was saddened when I heard about Mr. Umoja being terminated and Ms. Johnson being left with no choice but to resign. I was absolutely mortified and left speechless when I heard that alumni, concerned students, parents and teachers were all but ignored at Community Harvest board meetings and simply written off as emotional.
In a state where the graduation rate is continuously plummeting, it is very hard to find students who care enough about school to show up each day, let alone find students who care enough to come back to a school after they’ve graduated to show and express their concern for its well-being. I submit that no one’s concerns about C-Harv should be written off as purely emotional. If students, parents, teachers and community members (former and current), are raising their voices to ask questions about the current status of the school, then their voices should be heard, their questions should be answered with clarity and their commitment to the school they love, the school they help build should be honored.
I have gone over plenty of the questions that have been asked about community Harvest and cannot find one that has an emotional root. They are valid questions that deserve answers. There is no emotion in asking: why is so much money being spent to bus students to Sherman Oaks? Why are there no original teachers teaching at Community Harvest? Why have test scores plummeted since moving to the Sherman Oaks campus? Why has so much money been poured into remodeling a rented building? Why was the student body, parents and staff told that the move to Sherman Oaks was a temporary one? Why doesn’t the CTC website show any credentials listed for the two administrators of Community Harvest? Why aren’t board meetings held in South Los Angeles so that C-Harv parents can easily attend? Why are there no parents or alumni on the board of directors?
If one had to assign any emotion to the questions currently being asked about C-Harv, I suppose that emotion would be “begging”, because these questions and so many others are just begging to be answered!
As members of the Board of Directors of Community Harvest Charter School, I am calling on you to at the very least, provide clarity to those concerned with this beloved institution and answer these questions.
Sincerely,
Kendra Fountain
Former Community Harvest Drama Teacher
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