FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Today Thursday, March 19 at 5 PM, parents of Stoner Elementary will be giving petitions to the ICEF Board at their monthly meeting to oppose the proposed co-location of ICEF Vista on the Stoner campus.
Over the past few weeks, Friend of Stoner Avenue Elementary conducted a petition signing and letter writing campaign to urge ICEF Vista to withdraw its co-location request for 2015/16. Friends of Stoner will be presenting the petitions to the board and again asking ICEF to withdraw its co-location request.
*A PDF copy of the petitions is included with this press release.
WHAT: Friends of Stoner Elementary School booster club will be:
PRESENTING PETITIONS TO ICEF TO OPPOSE CO-LOCATION AT STONER
WHEN: Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 5 PM
WHERE: ICEF Vista Main Office. Monthly Board Meeting.
5120 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA 90056
WHEN: Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 5 PM
WHERE: ICEF Vista Main Office. Monthly Board Meeting.
5120 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA 90056
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ICEF Vista Elementary, a neighboring school that is currently located two blocks from Stoner on the campus of the defunct St. Gerard Majella Elementary School, has requested co-location space at Stoner. To many people in the neighborhood, ICEF is seen as ‘the school at the church’ and many ICEF families take pride that their school provides benefit to the local parish. However, ICEF wants to expand and that means leaving the church grounds. Part of ICEF’s expansion plan includes co-locating at another campus to open up space at the St. Gerard campus.
ICEF is “stealing from Peter to Give to Paul”
Stoner ES parents are outraged to learn that ICEF Vista’s plan to co-locate would to take set aside rooms that are used for music, art, parents center, and computer lab at Stoner so that ICEF can open up space on the St. Gerard campus to have room for an art room, parents center and computer lab. ICEF is literally taking away resources from Stoner ES to give those same resources to the ‘school at the church.’
Stoner community collecting petition signatures
The Stoner parents are have been collecting signatures and handing out information in front of Stoner ES and ICEF Vista opposing the proposed co-location. To the Stoner parent’s surprise, there are many in the ICEF community that are opposed to the co-location for various reasons and signed the petition opposing the co-location.
Some ICEF parents see the co-location as just flat out wrong. Other stated that the reason they are at ICEF is they don’t want to be at Stoner. So, sending their child to the Stoner campus doesn’t make sense to them. Parents from outside the area said they would not be happy driving their children to a school across from the Mar Vista Gardens housing projects, and would rather enroll their child at another school.
With opposition coming from both the Stoner community and the ICEF community, it is surprising that ICEF wants to continue down this path.
Co-location Protest at ICEF, more planned
The Stoner community is furious about the co-location and is working hard to oppose it. Last week, on March 10, Stoner parents held a protest in front of ICEF to oppose the co-location. ICEF parents were present at the protest and were asking for a better school for their children. If the Stoner community is working this hard to oppose the co-location, and it hasn’t even happened yet, image how the opposition will be if the co-location happens.
If the co-location happens, the Stoner community has vowed to have protests against the co-location for the entire first week of school, and to have more protest throughout the year.
ICEF Facebook Bombarded with 1 star reviews
The co-location is also being opposed online. Stoner supporters have taken to the ICEF Facebook page to oppose the co-location. Supporters have bombarded the review section with comments opposing the co-location and 1 star reviews, bringing the previously 5 star rating down to 3 stars.
Stoner community documenting co-location woes
The Stoner community is also online document the co-location struggle on the blogAdventures in Charter School Co-location available at http://cwcmarvista-co-location-stoner-lausd.blogspot.com/ Since the announcement of the ICEF co-location the blog has started to received hundreds of hits a day.
Petitions opposing co-location to ICEF board
Today, the Friends of Stoner booster club will present the 100 letters and signed petitions to the ICEF board and once again ask them to withdraw their co-location request. The petitions have been signed by members the Stoner community, ICEF community and local Del Rey community. A PDF copy of the petitions is included with this press release.
Media is invited to attend.
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WHAT DO WE WANT:
The Stoner parents are requesting that ICEF Vista to withdraw it co-location request for space on the Stoner ES campus.
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