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 [ ARCHIVE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=16)

#  Van de Kamps Kabuki and the Art of Distraction

June 28 2012

Written by Miki Jackson and Laura Gutierrez.

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![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/June-2012/cw1052o.png)LACCD WATCH - The Van de Kamps Coalition has learned that the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board may be engaging in an elaborate scheme to publicly appear to be considering a range of alternatives for use of the Van de Kamps site’s New Education Building, all the while it is negotiating behind-the-scenes with the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools to continue that charter school’s unlawful seizure of the Van de Kamps site. Last September, a Superior Court judge concluded that the LACCD Board violated environmental laws when it failed to analyze the negative impacts of moving a charter school run by former Mayor Richard Riordan and billionaire Eli Broad into the unfinished New Education Building on the Van de Kamps community college campus.

On May 3, 2012, the court’s judgment became final and the LACCD was ordered to “immediately” revoke the charter school’s lease. The LACCD is currently defying the court’s order and using a baseless appeal of the decision as a pretense to avoid the court’s order to terminate the lease.

In public meetings, the LACCD Board appears to be engaged in some elaborate Japanese Kabuki Theatre dance as to its future “plans” for the New Education Building at Van de Kamps.

Last month, the LACCD staff brought forward a list of ten “options” for the future use of the New Education Building. The Board solemnly referred the ten options to an Ad Hoc Committee of Board members for “careful study”.

Then, recently, the Ad Hoc Committee returned to the Board with a recommendation to study four of the ten options.

One option is to actually offer a coherent community college academic and community service class program first envisioned by LACCD in the feasibility studies that supposedly justified the Board spending $91 million of taxpayer funds to develop the Van de Kamps Campus.

Is this option under serious consideration by LACCD Board members like Mona Field and Kelly Candaele from Northeast Los Angeles? No, according to reliable sources within the District.

The Van de Kamps Coalition has been informed that while the Board is publicly pretending to “seriously study the options”, behind the scenes a decision to continue to deny educational opportunity to Northeast young adults has been made.

These sources tell the Coalition that LACCD is already negotiating the terms of a 10-year or more lease of the Van de Kamps New Education Building in an ongoing scheme to give the community college bond-financed building to the wealthy and politically connected directors of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools.

This is malfeasance in office by the LACCD Board Members. They should be criminally prosecuted for these actions – yet, just like National Democratic Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa whose office seized the Van de Kamps Bakery building for unemployment programs championed by the Mayor, no public official charged with investigative powers has done their job.

An investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney, the California Attorney General, and the State Controller’s Office is order. It is especially in order NOW because the LACCD has sufficient revenues from renting out the other buildings of the Van de Kamps Campus that it could carry out its Community College Mission of offering adult community college classes without being impacted by the current state budget problems.

The excuse used as the “rationale” to put the Alliance School and Villaraigosa’s unemployment programs into Van de Kamps no longer exists.

Oh, but this is not what the “owners” of the LACCD Board of Trustees want. The Alliance School directors want their charter school to continue to occupy a building intended to benefit northeast adults.

The Alliance School directors refuse to move their charter school one-quarter mile down San Fernando Road into the new LAUSD high school built with K-12 school bonds where there are athletic fields and extracurricular clubs available – something the poor charter school students do not have at Van de Kamps.

The LACCD Board is ready to place these 9-12 charter high school students back on the same campus with unemployment programs of the City of Los Angeles with ex-offenders (including convicted sexual offenders). Does anyone with investigative powers over this transaction think this is a good idea?

This is a disaster waiting to happen and Steve Cooley, Kamala Harris, and John Chiang have not, to the best of our knowledge, commenced any investigation of these unlawful actions.

The Alliance School was given the Van de Kamps New Education Building without competitive bidding, but Cooley, Harris and Chiang have not investigated.

The New Education Building was completed with over a $1 million of community college bond expenditures used to benefit the proposed tenant – Alliance Charter School, yet Chiang gave up investigation when LACCD officials refused to turn over the construction records to Chiang’s auditors.

How much longer will the public elected officials charged with duties to investigate such matters themselves commit malfeasance in office because the wealthy “owners” of their political campaigns do not want such investigations to commence?

*(Miki Jackson and Laura Gutierrez are members of the Van de Kamps Coalition. Miki Jackson can be reached at Mikijackson@sbcglobal.net)* –cw

Tags: Van de Kamps, taxpayers, LACCD, charter school, education, schools, Los Angeles

CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 52
Pub: June 29, 2012

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