The Ball Is In LACOE's Court

“This to me sounds like a private school that's publicly funded”

– Former LAUSD Board Member Tamar Galatzan when Lashon’s charter was first considered

Given the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s (LACOE) emphasis on social justice, it is not surprising that the appointed members of the Board focused on this issue during a hearing last week about the Lashon Academy’s request to expand their operations into a new neighborhood. Concern was expressed about the wide difference in the demographics between the charter school and the public schools it occupies under PROP-39. When pressed, the school’s spokesperson claimed she was unfamiliar with the data leaving the Board’s questions unanswered.

Concern was also expressed about Lashon locating its expansion on the site of Temple Beth Hillel and whether this violates the separation of church and state required by the First Amendment. The lease between the two entities allows the Temple to “display any religious symbols, art or iconography in its sole and exclusive discretion anywhere on the Premises, including any Shared Premises, outside of Lessee’s Exclusive Premises.” The charter school also closes its campus for religious holidays and has partnered with other organizations for a celebration of the High Holidays that included an admission fee.

What was not discussed was the lack of a study of the impact of the proposed expansion on the community. The redlined charter included with the material revision was not even updated with the public schools that are in the new neighborhood. Under AB-1505, LACOE is required to consider this information.

The students of Lashon start school on August 12, 2024, but LACOE will not hold a vote on the material revision until the next day. Hopefully, the county staff will ensure unapproved facilities are not being used.

The following letters from the community were presented to the Board as part of the public hearing:

STEPHANIE CAMPBELL, president of Americans United for Separation of Church & State, Orange County Chapter:

My name is Stephanie Campbell and I am the president of the Orange County Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Many of our members are in Los Angeles County and several have raised concerns about the request of Lashon Academy to locate at a religious institution, that simultaneously operates its own religious school.

We are very concerned that you have not shown vigilance in preventing violations of the separation of church and state and we urge you to consider this carefully as you move forward. In order to maintain the separation of church and state given the Academy’s stated plans, I urge you to reject their request.

CHERYL ORTEGA, 54-year public school teacher:

Should LACOE allow Lashon Academy to break the law?

Dear LACOE Board and Staff,

I am a proud 54-year public school teacher and observant Catholic. These identities and my activities expressing them are not in conflict. Why? Because I understand and respect the separation of church and state, which includes the prohibition against the establishment of religion by the state in our Constitution.

Today you are hearing a case involving Lashon Academy and its request for a material revision to its charter.

The lease for Lashon Academy that you are asked to approve today as part of that material revision, and as shown on p. 293 of the agenda for this meeting, plainly violates the separation of church and state. That lease gives the host religious institution the authority to “display any religious symbols, art or iconography in its sole and exclusive discretion anywhere on the Premises, including any Shared Premises.”

LACOE must not look away from evidence that invites ongoing and serious violations that subject students and educators to discrimination and disparate treatment.

Is LACOE aware of similar violations at Citizens of the World Charter School at Adat Ariel Synagogue in Valley Village?

At that public charter school, students are compelled to consume only kosher meals for lunch after the landlord, a religious institution, imposed religious standards over food service allowed on site.

Are LACOE board members and staff aware that two teachers were dismissed at that public charter school for teaching children from a Palestinian perspective and asking that the landlord religious institution not fly an Israeli flag?

These are the real but ugly and disruptive complications that can and do occur when public decision-making bodies fail to uphold the separation of church and state.

Approving the location of a public charter school in the same facilities as an existing religious school and on the property of a religious institution requires stringent safeguards and extraordinary caution to prevent illegal activities and state subsidy of religion. Those requirements are NOT fulfilled in this lease or in this case.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, other religious practitioners, pantheists, agnostics, and atheists are ALL protected by the separation of church and state.

Religious schools are fine, be they Jewish or Catholic or Greek Orthodox or Presbyterian or Muslim or Wiccan or what have you. But they must not collect public funds and ensnare the taxpayers in their operations.

Great danger ensues when this fundamental safeguard is disregarded and ruptured.

Please do your duty of due diligence to honor the “public” in public education and protect the separation of church and state by rejecting the material revision requested by Lashon Academy.

ROBERT PAYNE, former writing instructor, L.A. Mission College:

As the father of two Jewish daughters, who attended public schools, I oppose the isolation of Jewish children in all Jewish environments.

My daughters received their instruction in Judaism from us and our extended family.

I realize there are now problems in public schools and higher education concerning the Israeli destruction of Gaza. Even though not all Jews are Israeli, the anti-Israeli / anti-Semitism intimidates Jewish students. Yet if parents remove their children from the reality of the world, how will they mature to deal with the real world?

In my experience as a primary teacher and professor, charter schools specialized in academic disciplines, not sectarian divisions.

Also, if Jews receive special funding for their Jewish schools, next will be demands to fund Christian Nationalist schools, Wahabist schools, and Nichiren Shōshū schools.

The United States is a secular nation, by constitutional definition and history. Keep public schools secular. And only fund public schools.

NANCY PEARLMAN, former L.A. Community College District (LACCD) Trustee

No school with any public funding should be affiliated with a religious institution. My ancestors were involved in writing our U. S. Constitution and they specifically kept a clause not to have the state have any establishment of religion, commonly known as separation of church and state.

Please let me know that Lashon Academy will not be allowed to be a public charter school if it locates at a religious institution.

______

Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.