Tiffany McLean (Alumni) Letter to the board.

To The Board Members of CHCS:

My name is Tiffany McLean and I am also part of the first graduating class at Community Harvest Charter School.  I would like to start off with my background and how CHCS became such a big impact on my life as an adolescent and an adult. I grew up very poor in the South Central area. Although I was considered a “gifted” student all through my elementary and middle school years, the environment in which I was receiving an education in a lot of ways hindered my way of thinking. Surrounded by gangs, sex, poverty and drugs I never even dreamed of REALLY going to college. 

I didn’t know any better and definitely was not given the proper tools and principles to achieve such things.  In my 8^th grade year of middle school, my Algebra 1 teacher recognized the potential in me and reached out to me and a few others. She believed that if that if we were put in better surroundings we would have a better chance. So she referred us to a new charter school (CHCS) in hopes that we could blossom in better surroundings and I’m happy to say 9 years later it definitely was the changing point in my life.

Community Harvest to me and so many others has been more than just a school, it’s a HOME. It was our safe haven. It’s what kept a lot of us on the right path and out the streets of Los Angeles. It has instilled so many principles and morals in us that I don’t see coming from other schools. Not only did we blossom academically but we also blossomed in many ways personally and spiritually. It taught us to be well rounded members of our community. The teachers were all always like our parents away from home, our guidance counselors, and even a friend when you needed one. There are no words that can describe what CHCS has given to me.

With that being said, you cannot imagine the amount of joy I had when my youngest sibling announced he would be attending CHCS his middle and high school years. That joy was quickly taken over by pure disappointment and sadness once the campus moved to Sherman Oaks. The stories I would hear from him, his friends, and their parents after school, the way things were being handled, and even the state of the campus itself raised great concern all around. Why wasn’t anything being done? Why were we in Sherman Oaks in the first place and why so long? What was happening to our sense of community? And why weren’t these issues being addressed by the Board Members? Our test scores are declining, our school is no longer in OUR community, and our beloved teachers are no longer there. That’s not even taking into consideration what all this busing and renovation of the “temporary” campus has been costing the school and how much debt we are potentially in. Board meeting after board meeting you all have failed to give us answers and help work towards a solution. How could you let our school fall into this state and do NOTHING? I believe the resignation of the current board members is extremely imperative to the change and uprising of our school before it is too late. LET US HAVE OUR SCHOOL BACK! That is all that we ask.

Sincerely,

Tiffany McLean