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OP/ED - As a new academic year begins in L.A., students, parents, teachers, and administrators are reckoning with the ongoing federal attack on California that has put fear on the back-to-school list and public education in the crosshairs.
It has also put promoters of charter schools on the defensive as Trump has embraced both privatization of public education and goon-squad tactics that smack of racism and thuggery.
Nationwide television coverage in June showed federal agents tackling and trying to handcuff an incredulous U.S. Senator Alex Padilla here in his home town of L.A., even as the White House infused its program of charter-school investment with so many steroids it could make the late Hulk Hogan turn pale.
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, one of the Trump cult’s frontline culture warriors promoting charter schools was caught by state school-board members with porn playing on his office television during an official meeting.
Here in L.A., charter-school advocates made their best, flailing attempt to differentiate themselves from Trump and his worst enablers to regain credibility after several high-profile defeats. They claimed victory in a lawsuit to eliminate all guardrails against their increasingly heavy-handed efforts to grab space and resources on the campuses of traditional K-12 public schools.
But even this desperate gambit failed when, by raising the ugly issue of charter-school co-locations, they inadvertently resurrected the monstrous fraud of a collapsed outfit called North Valley Military Institute (NVMI). Two years ago this month, NVMI imploded just before the start of the 2023-24 school year after a decade of disastrous academics and financial mismanagement that included a $90,000 school junket to Las Vegas that triggered state auditors’ alarm bells.
The NVMI disaster is a required case study for anyone concerned with school governance. The failure of charter-school promoters, led by the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA), and the authorizers of the disgraced outfit at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) to intervene in the downward spiral of negligence, misspending, and terrible outcomes for students at NVMI for several years amidst escalating warning signs shows tolerance, to say the least, for waste, fraud, and abuse by backers of school privatization.
At NVMI, students paid the price of that failure. Before takers of Advanced Placement (AP) tests disappeared altogether at NVMI, not one student at the outfit earned a passing grade on an AP exam during the 2015-16 school year. Students with disabilities or with special needs faced such neglect that legally required Individualized Educational Program (IEP) documents were incomplete, unaddressed, or often juggled and dropped by assigned instructors without proper credentials.
In 2017, there was even a lawsuit stemming from sexual abuse of NVMI students in a case of neglectful hiring and supervision involving NVMI.
It wasn’t just students at NVMI who paid the price. NVMI survived through co-locating its operations on other school sites in L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD). A whistleblower at one of those campuses, Valley Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (VOCES) in Sun Valley, described the climate of entitlement to school spaces and resources by NVMI students and staff that escalated into bullying by them.
“There is constant harassment by NVMI students towards our students and staff, including harassment by NVMI staff,” wrote the whistleblower at VOCES. “This is creating a climate that affects our socio-emotional learning environment and places undue stress on our students, staff, and families.”
NVMI’s sudden implosion in August 2023 also tells a cautionary tale about pro-charter ideology and reliance on lobbying and favors from government insiders. For years the charter school had survived based on ingratiating itself with pro-privatization politicians. But as scandals erupted and evidence of financial turmoil became undeniable, NVMI cast about frantically for a place to land. In May 2023, that anxious search focused on L.A. Mission College. [CityWatch link]
Never mind the fact there was no concrete plan of operations to serve the specific needs or daily education plans of high-school students, mostly minors, on a community-college campus drawing adults of all ages. What could possibly go wrong?
Only because of early warnings and a shift away from pro-privatization ideology on the L.A. Community College District Board did the hail-Mary pass from NVMI get batted down. Similarly, alert action by watchdogs and a shift away from pro-charter ideology on the L.A. School Board prevented costly, extraordinary life-support efforts to rescue NVMI. Instead, current L.A. School Board President Scott Schmerelson, in whose San Fernando Valley board district NVMI sought to crash, at a local church, adroitly focused on getting NVMI students placed at new public schools. Students, like pawns in the NVMI meltdown, were notified of the outfit’s closure just four days before supposed resumption of classes.
Promoters of charter schools in L.A. cannot shed the embarrassment and enduring shame of NVMI. Nor can they shake the stink of President Donald Trump and his ongoing onslaught against public education and self-governance by Californians. Against the dual threats of privatization and lawless cruelty by this Administration, fact-checking the abuses and calling out deflections from the hard truth are essential ingredients in civic engagement to protect public education and to win good governance here in our state.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns have appeared in USA Today and leading newspapers across more than 20 states. Based in Eagle Rock, he serves as president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), California’s largest grassroots Democratic club with over 1,100 members. Hans brings decades of organizing and policy experience to his work, advancing equity and accountability in local and national politics.)
