Giligia Charter Academy misses deadline to disclose location

Burbank school officials said they had not yet received an address where Giligia Charter Academy would operate, though that information was due Monday.

The charter’s lead petitioner, Julia Yeranossian-Aghishian, declined to disclose the school’s address Tuesday, saying the proposed location would not be released until negotiations with the landlord were complete.

The lack of an address could potentially affect the school’s success in being approved on July 17 when the board will vote on giving the charter final approval.

“There was a deadline yesterday that was ostensibly not met,” said school board member Larry Applebaum. “The other requirements I believe have been.”

Even so, he added, “I’m not confident that we have all the facts to adequately be able to substantiate any action at the next meeting. My supposition is we could deny [the petition] because they failed to meet their deadlines.”

If the charter is denied, he said it could return as a proposal at a later date.

“[It’s] not the end of the conversation,” Applebaum said, and school board President Roberta Reynolds concurred.

The proposed school ignited residents’ concerns in recent weeks following the board’s tentative approval of the charter last month.

During the June 5 meeting, charter officials said the school would be located on Burbank Boulevard near Hollywood Way. Residents of the area soon approached city and school officials with concerns over the location.

But Yeranossian-Aghishian said the site fell through after the landlord expressed a desire to maintain the vacant building as a production studio. In late June, she said she was eyeing a location in a business district and not a residential one.

Aside from the school’s location, residents have voiced concerns that the school would cater too much to one demographic, placing a heavy focus on Armenian students while also setting a new precedent for charter schools to operate in Burbank.

The petitioners have said the school would target immigrants new to Burbank and surrounding areas. According to the petition, the school would teach most of its curriculum in English with Armenian and Spanish offered as foreign language classes.

The petition also states the school would open to 120 students this September.