Rumors were getting out of hand, parents were holding meetings to start an email campaign, and a phone blast was sent out to the whole school.
Carpenter Community Charter School—an attractive public school that has caused people to move to Studio City specifically to get into it—is hitting capacity. Some parents are concerned that the lines of the school district would be redrawn and that Colfax Meadows in Studio City would be cut out of Carpenter’s district and reassigned to Rio Vista Elementary School on the border of Toluca Lake.
In a community meeting held last week, concerned parents said that despite a phone blast by Principal Joe Martinez, the parents “are still not assured” and they worried that “various committees were meeting behind closed doors and making decisions that directly affect us.”
According to an email blast, the parents were warned, “It should be noted no one from the Colfax Meadows area is on the Governance Committee.”
Speaking to a room of about 50 parents attending the monthly the Governance Council meeting for the school last week, Martinez insisted that no such meetings with the district ever occurred, nor were there any closed door meetings. The Governance Council, which is opened to the public, never took up the issue.
“There are lots of rumors that people are discussing,” Martinez said. “Let me start off by saying that I care about my kids and I would hope that you do, too.”
He acknowledged that the school population is nearing 1,000 students, and that Los Angeles Unified School District limits the school to about 950 students. The playground is not big enough for all the students, and something has to be done—but it’s not involving redistricting the lines of the neighborhood at this point.
“No meeting has taken place about Colfax Meadows, and with all this rumor and gossip I’m trying to calm everybody’s nerves,” Martinez said.
He had an LAUSD program coordinator Robin Toder attend the Governance Council to reassure the parents, too.
He said that he got late word from the district that a redistricting plan for Colfax Meadows is absolutely not an option this year.
“There will have to be a study done, but a rezoning of our boundaries will not be considered,” he said.
Former PTA president Andrew Barrett formed an Enrollment committee while on the Governance Council to look into the issues and possible solutions. Some of this cropped up after Colfax Community Charter became so filled up that they had to cap the number of students they were accepting.
“We know that we have an enrollment in the high 900s and we know that we will have to do something about it,” Martinez said.
