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CHARTER SCHOOLS - Showing basic courtesy and following state law are ground rules that most folks learn early in life. That means kindergarten and elementary years if we’re blessed with good teachers and loving role models, or the hard way in subsequent years if not.
Two outliers from this pattern of decent behavior are the Trump Administration, with its unlawful arrests of Californians and manhandling of L.A.’s own U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, along with some charter schools, like Citizens of the World Charter (CWC), which seems to fall short of the standard of courtesy and ethical behavior implied in its own name.
In November 2024, coincidental with Trump’s reelection, the quasi-private but publicly funded company embarked on a scheme to buy a contaminated plot of land on Victory Blvd. in the Valley Glen section of North Hollywood and build a new charter school. The company aims to lure up to 700 students, starting with 4- and 5- year-olds, to the site, which directly abuts State Route 170. Some are calling the proposed charter-school location “CWC Freeway.”
Putting up a large school where hundreds of young students coming in from multiple communities might be compelled to breathe in particulate matter from vehicle exhaust at higher than normal or healthy levels is not the only problem facing CWC Freeway.
CWC appears to have sidestepped a requirement in state law that it get clearance in order to buy the property so near an airport with an intent to operate a charter school.
According to state Ed Code Section 17215, any “property proposed to be acquired or leased for school purposes within two (2) nautical miles (12,152 feet) of an existing or proposed runway be evaluated by the California Department of Transportation Aeronautics Office (Caltrans) prior to the acquisition or lease of the property.”
The state code cuts no loopholes for charter operators like CWC. It states, “This provision applies to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools regardless of funding source.”
Triggering concerns over violation of state law, the CWC Freeway site is about 1.8 nautical miles from the active runway at the Hollywood Burbank Airport. During mornings, daytimes, and evenings, inbound jetliners and other aircraft are visible from the CWC Freeway site at Victory Blvd. and Wilkinson Ave.
Health and safety risks to students and school staff from proximity to airport flight paths are consequential. In January 2020, dozens of young students at Park Avenue Elementary School in Cudahy were doused by falling drops from 15,000 gallons of jet fuel dumped from a Delta airliner making an emergency maneuver to return to LAX after an in-flight mishap.
Park View is a public school in the L.A. Unified School District, the same school district from which CWC must seek permission to relocate to the site adjacent to the 170 Freeway.
Speaking to reporters after the 2020 incident, when students complained of health problems from jet fuel getting into their eyes and fumes into their lungs, a teacher at the Cudahy school said, “We are all very experienced teachers, but we are not equipped to deal with this level of hazard and contamination.”
Running afoul of state law may not even be the brightest red light facing the charter-school chain in pursuing its scheme for CWC Freeway.
Dozens of residents immediately surrounding the Valley Glen site are expressing vehement resistance to design flaws they call exploitative of their neighborhood and, if they have any say, fatal to the company’s goal for CWC Freeway. The building plan fails to create off-street parking. Only 2 off-street spots appear in the initial blueprint for a facility that aims to draw 700 students plus teaching staff to the new venue.
On June 18, concerned constituent Nicolle Fefferman of Parents Supporting Teachers (PST) along with neighbors met with staff of L.A. Councilmember Adrin Nazarian (2nd District) to outline the dangers facing residents and a nearby provider of services to people with disabilities from CWC Freeway. The presumption of pushing the parking for hundreds of students, teachers, and staff onto nearby streets, they said, is a deal-breaker that violates basic decency.
Since CWC Freeway aims to bring up to 700 students plus teaching staff and other personnel into the neighborhood, that means at least 500 cars from parents dropping off and picking up students each day that would idle, park, or double-park on streets like Gilmore and Wilkinson, in addition to school personnel competing to use scarce neighborhood street parking. CWC has reportedly told teachers that Gilmore Street alone could accommodate up to 30 cars.
Where would CWC put all its cars? The charter-school chain proposes a total of 2 off-street parking spots at a new facility for 700 students plus teaching staff in North Hollywood. CWC presumes it might use Gilmore and Wilkinson for street parking. But on a recent weekday, these two streets showed zero spots available.
But recent photos show that Gilmore Street was already crowded with cars on a weekday, including vehicles from the career college on the opposite side of Victory Blvd.
And Wilkinson Street showed zero parking spots available at the same time that Gilmore was full.
Conflict over parking is a frequent flashpoint for acrimony and even episodes of violence in L.A. neighborhoods. Any institution that claims to teach values of “responsibility” and “community,” such as CWC espouses, should aim to reduce that conflict, not add to it.
Skirting the law and disrespecting the dignity of Americans have taken on new dimensions during the unpopular second Presidency of Donald Trump. The last thing Angelenos need is a charter-school chain showing similar contempt for community standards by hitching a ride on his coattails.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime leader for LGBTQ+ human rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns appear in national news outlets including USA Today and in top daily news outlets of more than 20 states. A resident of Eagle Rock, he is also president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), the largest grassroots Democratic club in California, with more than 1,100 members.)
