The District will be offering our campus to be shared with the Citizens of the World Charter School for the 2012-13 school year due to our having classrooms on campus that are not currently in use. We have plans for this space, specifically starting a Dual Language program for 2012 – 2013; sharing the campus with another school will prevent us from starting this program. Principal Furfari, Micheltorena teachers, the Micheltorena PTA and Friends of Micheltorena oppose Citizens of the World Charter sharing our campus. Please help us stop this proposal by contacting District officials and tell them “I oppose a charter sharing the Micheltorena campus!” Here is how you can help:
Many parents, Micheltorena alumni, and Silver Lake community members have written passionate replies to this situation. Please see below to read some of the letters that have been written; more will be posted soon. Please also see the article in the Eastsider for further discussion.
From Principal Furfari:
Dear Micheltorena Parents and Community Members,
I am sending you this email because I am very concerned about the future of our school. I have been informed that the District will be offering eight classrooms on our campus to the Citizens of the World Charter School for the 2012-13 school year. This will have serious implications for our school and our students. I am asking that you help me in reaching out to District officials to stop this process from moving forward (see above). I believe that if we can get enough parents involved, we can stop this process. Thank you for supporting our school. If you should have any questions or require additional information, please do not hesitate to call me at (323) 661-2125.
Sincerely,
Susanna C. Furfari
Principal
From PTA President Rebecca Crane:
Dear Mr. Kayser and Mr. Gutierrez,
I writing to express my opposition to the idea of Micheltorena Street Elementary sharing its campus with Citizens of the World charter school. I am a physician, a Silver Lake resident and PTA president at Micheltorena. I have been a proud Micheltorena parent since 2008, and currently have both of my children at the school.
Our principal, teachers, Micheltorena PTA and Friends of Micheltorena oppose the Citizens of the World charter sharing our a campus for many reasons. A crucial reason is that sharing our campus would inhibit further growth and betterment activities on the campus; in particular, sharing our campus would take away extra classrooms and would prevent us from increasing enrollment and expanding to form a bilingual program school for the year 2012 – 2013, which we are preparing for at the present time.
Micheltorena Elementary is a campus that is the center of a community, comprised of parents, Micheltorena alumni, and Silver Lake residents, that embrace the school and are actively working to elevate the school’s status. Instead of turning our backs and throwing up our hands, driving our cars out of the neighborhood to outside schools, we are pulling up our sleeves and getting to work. With the direction of Principal Furfari, we have installed a new library, built a school and community garden, and partnered with the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music to augment our existing music program. Local arts organization Bluepalm is currently working at our school to install a sustainable, school-wide, sequential, standards-based art program that will serve as a pilot to other LAUSD schools. We have received a grant from the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits program to support after-school cooking and garden classes that teach healthy eating habits and encourage outdoor physical activity. Some express concern over the school’s API score. However, our lower API average reflects testing of a student population that is comprised of a higher percentage of Special Needs students than a typical elementary school, and we value this group as adding to the richness and diversity of our campus. When recalibrated, our API of 844 demonstrates the talents of our outstanding teachers and the strong academics at Micheltorena.
Our work at the school has improved the community at large. Murals have been painted, as part of campus beautification efforts, along the campus perimeter and sidewalk of Sunset Boulevard for all to enjoy. Silver Lake Neighborhood Council members serve on the Friends of Micheltorena board, and talk frequently with Principal Furfari to discuss ways of involving the campus with the surrounding community, including plans to make the school a site where the community can gather in the event of an emergency or disaster. We have plans to partner with Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic physicians to provide health education at the school, as well as better coordinate medical services for our families without health insurance. We offer ESL classes on our campus, and host free-of-charge gardening and sustainable-practices workshops at our garden for the school community and general public. We are the recipients of a 2011 California Safe Routes to School grant which will redesign the crosswalk at Micheltorena and Sunset to be safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as provide funds for other sidewalk beautification efforts and planting of trees along Sunset Boulevard.
Our parents are committed, hard-working and involved in the Micheltorena PTA, Friends of Micheltorena and in the classrooms. Our campus is open and friendly, with teachers and children from many different backgrounds, who are glad to study and play together. Our families enjoy sharing our school and community, and we feel privileged to be able to walk our children to school!
The Micheltorena community is committed to the campus and to Silver Lake, and we will keep working to build our dreams at the school. Sharing our campus with a charter school would only inhibit further improvements and growth. Please help us continue our good work, and direct Citizens of the World charter school elsewhere.
Yours Sincerely,
Rebecca Crane, MD, MPH
President, Micheltorena PTA