School Is Still Out at L.A. Charter Campus

For many teenagers, annual back-to-school concerns involve buying supplies, choosing new clothes or trying to get a handle on teachers and schedules. But the approximately 350 students enrolled at Renaissance Academy Charter High School and their parents have a bigger worry: when, where, or even if, classes at their year-old school will resume this fall.

Nearly two weeks after a scheduled Sept. 6 opening date, Renaissance leaders still do not have city permission to move into a West Los Angeles space that is not zoned for a school. Renaissance must open by Sept. 30 to receive state funding for this academic year.

While city, school district and Renaissance officials argue over who is to blame for the crisis and what can be done, parents and students are weighing their shrinking options and appealing to local politicians for help.

Sophomore Lily Lysle, 15, applied this week to one of the few private schools in the area that still has openings, but she said she would much prefer to stay at Renaissance. “It’s really a family of teachers and students,” Lily said. “It feels really safe there.”

Advocates for charter schools, which are independently run public campuses, say the plight of Renaissance points to a dilemma many such schools face when it comes to finding and renovating suitable facilities. About half a dozen other Los Angeles Unified-authorized charters found themselves scrambling to open this fall before obtaining the necessary permits with help from the school district and the city.

Renaissance’s board of directors recently hired prominent land use attorney and City Hall lobbyist Ben Reznik to help them find ways to open its site on South Bundy Drive even as it explores such options as finding a new location or operating as an independent study program for a while. Parents, notified last week that the school might not be able to open, met with Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Marlene Canter earlier this week and called City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the area.

Reznik said earlier this week that he is hopeful about reaching a solution with the city. But if all else fails, he said he was preparing a lawsuit that would ask the court to recognize the charter school as its own state entity, not subject to local zoning and building safety rules.

Renaissance critics blame school founder Paul McGlothlin for difficulties that they say are unique to this school, which lost its original site in the Pacific Palisades after its presence sparked a community uproar in the crowded neighborhood last year. Renaissance has sued the school district, claiming it should have provided facilities.

The troubles with the Bundy site, in a low-slung building near Fox Television Center, stem from the school’s failure to apply to the city for either a zoning change or conditional-use permit, processes that normally take several months. Officials with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety said the school proceeded to renovate the space even after being told that it needed special permission to operate there.

McGlothlin acknowledged that the school had not applied for the permit but blamed a former board member who he said had promised to take care of the matter. The ex-board member is among a group of six former parents and faculty members who have left the school and complained about McGlothlin and alleged fiscal and other mismanagement in a widely distributed e-mail to state and local education officials.

Current board members and several parents said the complaints were baseless.

Despite what he called “the imperfections of its management,” parent Scott Vineberg said he feels strongly that Renaissance is the best place for his daughter Grace, who is entering her sophomore year. He said the campus measured up to the top-flight private school she had previously attended in Canada.

“Even with all the difficulties, I don’t see any good alternative,” Vineberg said.

Some parents have enrolled their children elsewhere or are planning to home school them but said they would return to Renaissance if it opens.

Musician Christopher Cross reluctantly sent his son, Rain, to Palisades Charter High this week, even though he had found it too large and impersonal when Rain attended there before enrolling last year at Renaissance, where he thrived.

“The kids did really well there last year, despite all the stress” over space problems, Cross said, citing student artwork, musical presentations and test scores. “We’re hoping against hope for a ‘stay of execution.’ ”

Renaissance scored 763 (out of a possible 1000) on the state’s Academic Performance Index last spring, comparing favorably with more established schools nearby, including Palisades, which scored 766, and Santa Monica High, with 741.

Rosendahl said that he was hopeful that “we can find a resolution to this” within the next two weeks. “My position is, we need to follow the rules, but the kids come first,” he said.

Canter, the school board president, said it was unfortunate that Renaissance officials “did not go through the public vetting process that is required by the city.”

Canter said the district continues to work with the city to help the school resume classes, but she has also directed district staff to “do all that they can to help place Renaissance students in neighboring high schools.”

Finding a suitable site is one of the biggest challenges charter schools face, despite passage of state Proposition 39 in 2000, which calls for school districts to provide facilities for charters. By the time applicants find their own sites and win school district approval for their charters, they have little time to make improvements and meet safety and fire codes, charter advocates say. The Building and Safety department recently formed a special office to help charters meet city requirements.

At Renaissance, the mood reflects part worry, part hope.

“Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on a good chunk of education” because of the delay in opening, said Kris Daum, 15, a sophomore who has not enrolled elsewhere.

Students have been going on field trips this week and have received schedules and assignments online.

Jo-Ann McAuliffe, who has two daughters at Renaissance, said she became more optimistic about the school’s prospects after attending a parents meeting earlier this week.

“I’m going to hang in there,” McAuliffe said.