We can only hope that the LWIP AC will recognize the seriousness of my complaint. They could resolve this issue right away if they withdrew the charter petition in order to spare the District possible fines, legal costs, and an injunction which would put a stop to the charter petition if the Marin DA ultimately finds any Brown Act violations.
In fact, in 2001 the Marin DA successfully sued the Novato Charter School Board of Directors (ironically also a Waldorf inspired school and referenced in the charter petition) for Brown Act violations. The court found against the charter school for legal costs, threatened fines and jail time for future violations, and imposed an injunction on its decision to fire a teacher in a closed door meeting. This was reportedly the first known Brown Act violation found against a California charter school. (Marin IJ, July 10, 2001) Let's hope LWIP doesn't become the second by recognizing the untransparent manner in which they carried out the charter petition process and quickly rescind their proposal.
In fact, one solution to the latest grievance that supposedly triggered the charter petition is the denial of tenure for my daughter's beloved and talented teacher Bill Kobabe. Despite having received about 30 letters asking for the Board to reconsider their decision, no action has been taken or publicly reported. The LWIP AC might better withdraw the charter petition and investigate whether a Brown Act complaint is warranted on this matter.
By the same token, the Board of Trustees could go a long way to defusing the current conflict and remove an impetus for the charter petition by reconsidering its denial of tenure to Mr. Kobabe. He reportedly had a positive evaluation by principal Laura Shain and is a dedicated educator with an incredible depth of knowledge in many fields of learning. My daughter has grown tremendously in the nearly two years she has been his student. Keeping Mr. Kobabe would also stabilize our Waldorf Program. It would allow us to keep our children with the same teacher through 5th grade which is crucial to the Waldorf method of learning in which a student follows their teacher through most, if not all, of grades 1 to 8.
-----
Robert
Ovetz, Ph.D. • PO Box 176 • Woodacre, CA 94973
415 xxx xxxx
rfovetz [ at ] riseup.net
_______________________________________________
April 23, 2012
Marin
County District Attorney
3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 130
San Rafael, California 94903
3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 130
San Rafael, California 94903
Attention:
Senior Inspector Carl Chapman
Re:
complaint regarding possible violations of the Brown Act, Govt. Code §§ 54950-54960.5
Senior
Inspector Carl Chapman,
I
wish to file a complaint about a possible violation of the Brown Act, Govt. Code §§ 54950-54960.5
at the Lagunitas School District. In February 2012, the Administrative Council of
the Lagunitas Waldorf Inspired Program (LWIP) at San Geronimo Elementary School
publicly announced that it had been working for months on a proposal to turn
the program into an independent charter school. As you will see from the attached
correspondence, I have been attempting since March 12, 2012 to obtain copies of
the draft charter petition, consultant contracts, and all other related
documents being discussed, prepared, and decided upon by the LWIP Administrative
Council of the Lagunitas School District. (See attached March 12 and 15 emails)
As a parent in LWIP I sought to obtain these documents and have a public
discussion of and vote on the charter petition in order to better inform myself
about the charter proposal before signing it. Unfortunately, the LWIP
Administrative Council did not issue agendas listing the charter issue in
advance, allowed for almost no discussion, never took a recorded vote, and has
never released the charter petition and other relevant documents in either
draft or final form to any parent other than those on the AC before it was
turned into the District Board of Trustees on April 17, 2012. The District
posted the charter petition on the District website on April 19th.
For these reasons, I wish to file a complaint that the Administrative Council,
which may be considered a formal body and/or committee of the district, has
violated by the Brown Act for the reasons identified below.
The Administrative Council (AC) announced to the
parents in the program that it had been working on a charter proposal for a
number of months in a February 29, 2012 memo handed out at the meeting. The
printed agenda for the February 29th meeting was not distributed in
advance but at the meeting and made no mention of the charter petition. (See
attached AC memo) In all, the AC’s deliberations on this issue were not
publicly announced to the parent body in advance of this initial meeting (see
attached February 26 email), no vote recorded, the media does not appear to
have been notified, the public (LWIP parents, all of whom are members of the
Parent Council which elects the AC) was not allowed to address the
Administrative Council on the issue at all during meetings on March 4th
and April 5th (the listed March 14th meeting was
cancelled). No document was distributed until the April 5th meeting
and that was only a draft charter petition. A single complete printed copy of
the final copy of the petition was made available for signing only on April 14th
but there was no discussion of or vote on the petition at that “meeting.” When
I attempted to read the printed version it was forcibly removed from my hands
and I was told to leave. Individual copies of all relevant documents were
withheld despite my requests. (See attached email exchange with AC member Matt
Andrews) No agenda identifying the topics to be discussed were included in
either the February 26th or March 1st email
announcements. (sSee attached emails)
According to your “Board and Commission Brown
Act_0109_.doc” on your website I believe that the LWIP Administrative Council
(AC) could be considered subject to the Brown Act for the following reasons:
1. The AC serves as a formal
advisory and decisionmaking committee governed by the Board of Trustees. The AC
interviews and proposes the hiring of LWIP teachers and interviews, hires and
funds class aides who are formally hired and managed by the District. This
would make the AC subject to the Brown Act as a “legislative body” under your
classification 1.D. that is permanent and both advisory and decisionmaking.
2. The AC prepares and submits
a budget to the District and LWIP parents and decides how to spend parent
donations which are held and dispersed by the District. This would make the AC
subject to the Brown Act as a “standing committee” under your classification
1.E. because it has “continuing jurisdiction over particular subject matter
(e.g., budget, finance, legislation)….”
3. The AC operates as an
advisory body to the District staff and Board of Trustees under Frazer v.
Dixon Unified School District, 18
Cal.App.4th 781, 792-93 (3d Dist. 1993), “in which the California Court of
Appeal held that a committee charged with following up on
parental complaints about textbooks was subject the Brown Act because its
formation was called for by district policy established by the school board,
even though the task of appointing members was left to the superintendent. The ‘creation’
by ‘formal action’ occurs when a legislative body establishes a policy calling
for committee advice; who designates the members makes no difference.”[1]
4. The AC has access to and
uses personal email addresses and other contact information to communicate with
parents in the program. These email addresses are obtained from the District
and held by and used the AC to communicate official District and program
business.
5. The AC is elected by the parent body at a Parent
Council meeting and includes all teaching staff as members, and is recognized
as a formal advisory body of LWIP program.
6. In March 12, March 13, March 15 (2), March 20, and March 21,
2012 emails, the AC confirmed that the AC wrote, discussed and voted on the charter
petition. (See attached emails)
7. Lastly, because Lagunitas
School District Trustee Richard Sloan is often in attendance of AC meetings he
could be considered as to have used the AC as an official advisory committee.
In the ways outlined above, the LWIP Administrative
Council (AC) appears to act and function as a formally recognized, and perhaps
even formally established, legislative body and/or standing committee of the
Board of Trustees and the District. While AC members are elected by the LWIP
parents the AC functions as a formal advisory and decisionmaking committee concerning
finances, hiring and academics that are governed by the Board of Trustees. Many
of the attached emails from members of the AC cited above clearly demonstrate
that the charter petition was discussed, voted on, and written by the AC
although they have refused to make their deliberations public.
On April 11, 2012 members of the AC filed papers registering
the San
Geronimo Valley Charter School (SGVCS) as a California Non-profit Public Benefit Corporation
with the California Secretary of State. The bylaws list six current LWIP AC members as
elected members of the board of directors with terms ending 10/1/13 and
10/1/14.[2]
However, there
was no meeting concerning forming this corporation, no agenda was issued, no
discussion occurred, and no vote on the board of directors despite the fact
that Art VII,
Sect 3 Board of Directors states that “All directors shall be elected by the
San Geronimo Valley Charter School Parent Council.” According to First
Amendment Project and the Northern California Society of Professional
Journalists, this would appear to be a violation of the Brown Act which applies
to “Governing bodies of non-profit corporations formed by
a public agency or which includes a member of a covered board and receives
public money from that board. (§54952(c)).”[3]
Since the SGVCS
was formed by the LWIP Administrative Council and has a yet unnamed member
appointed by the Lagunitas School District Board of Trustees it would appear
that it is subject to the Brown Act.
I wish to draw your attention to the fact that this
charter petition is coming up for a vote by the District Board of Trustees. The
charter petition has already appeared on the agenda of the Board of Trustees on
April 17th, will appear on the agenda of the May 10th
meeting, and is expected to be voted on by the Board of Trustees on June 12th.
For these reasons, I urge you to investigate possible
violations of the Brown Act by the lack of transparency, denial of access to
crucial information and documents, and the absence of an agenda, public
discussion and recorded vote on the charter petition.
I look forward to your immediate attention to this
matter.
Sincerely,
Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. (LWIP parent)
Enc.
[1] See First Amendment Coalition, “Nature, Purpose and Scope of the Brown Act,” http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/brown-act/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-brown-act/nature-purpose-and-scope-of-the-brown-act/#Heading8
[2] See the by laws included in
the charter petition, p. 133, at http://lagunitas.marin.k12.ca.us/SGVCS-Petition.pdf
[3] First
Amendment Project and the Northern California Society of Professional
Journalist,
Pocket Guide to Open Meeting Laws in California, www.thefirstamendment.org/Brown-Act-Brochure-DEC-03.pdf
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