A History of the Violation of the Civil
and Indigenous Rights of the Educators, Parents and Students of Semillas
Community Schools by Los Angeles Unified School District (2007-2013)
 |
| SEMILLAS PRESENTE! @ LAUSD HQ 6.18.13 |
Over the years local major media outlets have
reported with bias against Semillas regarding alleged audits and requests for
social security numbers LAUSD has demanded of Semillas. Many have reacted with
logical frustration that such a major institution can still engage in such
activities “in this day and age”. Others have reacted with caution, wondering
why Semillas “doesn’t just hand over their papers”. We are of the mind, that if
we do not stand against injustice, however minor the offense may be, the affronts
to our rights as members of a civil society will only grow increasingly
emboldened. So here is a brief history of the affronts to the rights of educators,
parents and children committed to improving their community and world through
education.
In
2011, the Office of Civil Rights reported on the systemic educational
discrimination against “English Learners” within LAUSD.[1] Approximately 75% of LAUSD students identify as “Latinos”
(almost 500,000), and approximately 200,000 of these are Spanish speakers
classified as “English Learners” (or 93% of all ‘English Learners’). Given these statistics, the moniker of
“English Learners” is certainly a euphemism for the District’s massive Latino
student population overall.
[2] Semillas’
schools began as pilot projects and as community-based schools in an area that
serves predominantly Mexican-origin children. Similar to what has been called
for by the OCR for African-American students elsewhere, the purpose of the
Semillas pilot school project is: (a) to increase access to educational and non-educational resources and services for Indigenous students,
including health and social services, and engage the community in improving
student achievement; and (b) to develop a successful, sustainable and
replicable model for addressing the academic achievement gap that supports the
improvement of Indigenous students’ academic and intellectual development. This unique approach to the cultural heritage
of Indigenous children from multiple national origins, but predominantly for
those of Mexican national origin, defines the strength of mission and character
that Semillas has become known for across the continent.
Of the hundreds of charter schools authorized by LAUSD, Semillas is
continually singled out for harassment.
LAUSD discriminates against Semillas both because of its leaders’ and
students’ Mexican origin, and because its programs teach children to value
Mexican Aztec cultural, environmental, historic and cosmic knowledge systems
over Euro-centric history. As detailed
below, over the course of years, LAUSD has violated Semillas’ and its leaders’
rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by:
1.
Failing
to produce discrete, identifiable public records requested by Semillas more
than five times since May 2, 2012 under the California Public Records Act. The requested records relate to LAUSD’s
discriminatory and unauthorized demand for Semillas leaders’ Social Security
Numbers as a condition for renewal of the Xinaxcalmecac charter, a practice the
U.S. Department of Justice and Education cautioned LAUSD about just last year
as being unlawful. On October 1, 2012,
LAUSD specifically refused to produce certain records to Semillas related to
LAUSD’s use of Social Security Numbers that the district has already
released to other members of the public.
When Semillas pointed out to LAUSD that records were missing, LAUSD’s
in-house counsel promised to produce all omitted records by October 31, 2012. LAUSD failed to deliver any records or any
further response to date.
2.
Recommending
revocation of the Anahuacalmecac charter based on a Los Angeles Department of
Building and Safety (“LADBS”) Order to Comply (“OTC”) for a minor door-swing
violation (slope exceeded 2%), knowing that Semillas had already contracted
for correction of the door-swing by September 1, 2012, before the start of the
school year on September 10. Even though
LAUSD has no jurisdiction over Anahuacalmecac facility accessibility
compliance, and even though LAUSD had written confirmation the door-swing
would be fixed prior to the school year, LAUSD issued a staff report on August
21, 2012 (just days before the door-swing was scheduled to be fixed) asking the
LAUSD Board to issue a Notice of Violation for revocation of the Anahuacalmecac
charter based on the OTC.
3.
Filing
a meritless lawsuit against Semillas on October 22, 2012 for an alleged failure
by Semillas to produce records, even though Semillas has already produced all
the records LAUSD has asked for, then dropping the lawsuit a few days later after
Semillas went through considerable disruption to its school and expense to
respond. In response to Semillas’
production of two binders of records, LAUSD demanded Semillas produce every
additional scrap of paper in its building.
When Semillas invoked the dispute resolution process under the charter
to determine and resolve what specific additional records LAUSD sought, LAUSD
sued. After Semillas began to incur
legal fees and demanded mediation, LAUSD unceremoniously dismissed the lawsuit
a few days later. Semillas again sought
to invoke the dispute resolution process and was told by LAUSD that “[t]his
issue is moot. The District is not
pursuing either the [O]IG subpoena or the PRA.” After voluntarily dropping the
lawsuit and telling Semillas the issue was “moot,” the OIG then turned around
and reported in a memorandum to the District’s charter school oversight “chief”
and the LAUSD Board that the OIG was forced to abandon its audit due to a “lack
of cooperation” from Semillas. That was
false. Notably, the LAUSD OIG has
“randomly” selected Semillas schools for audits of its records at least three
times in the past five years.
Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that Semillas is targeted, and the
audits are not random at all. Also
notably, LAUSD has never sued any other charter school for records or
anything else in the past 20 years it has been authorizing charter
schools.
4.
Tampering
with Xinaxcalmecac and Anahuacalmecac’s student records, and delaying Semillas
employees’ access to Welligent, LAUSD’s web-based software system used for
online IEPs and tracking of related services.
LAUSD requires Semillas staff to wait two weeks or longer to be assigned
access to Welligent, yet Semillas is monitored for compliance on a weekly
basis. On October 23, 2012, several
Semillas students were made “inactive” on Welligent by LAUSD, despite these
students being actively enrolled in Semillas schools. Semillas’ staff corrected the errors that had
been manually inputted by LAUSD staff, but not before Semillas was identified
as “noncompliant” for the week.
5.
Barring
Semillas’ Executive Director Marcos Aguilar from entering the LAUSD Board of
Education board room on April 17, 2012, because Mr. Aguilar was dressed in
traditional Indigenous formal ceremonial regalia. In a symbolic act to de-escalate the
hostility of four armed LAUSD Police officers barring entry, Mr. Aguilar removed
his cultural regalia in the full view of students and parents in attendance who
were also waiting to enter the facility.
These recent acts are part of a longstanding pattern and practice of
discrimination by LAUSD against Semillas.
Semillas hopes an investigation by the proper authorities will reveal
the extent and severity of the unlawful discrimination that Semillas suffers at
the hands of LAUSD. Semillas seeks an outcome whereby LAUSD’s wrongful acts
will be exposed, and Semillas can operate its schools and educate our children
with the harassment continuously railed against us by LAUSD. Further, we specifically seek a finding that
LAUSD has wrongfully caused Semillas to incur otherwise unnecessary legal
expenses to defend itself against false accusations and attacks from
LAUSD.
SEMILLAS’ EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND LEADERS
Semillas is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation formed
by Marcos Aguilar, a native of Mexicali, Baja California Norte in Mexico. Semillas’ co-founder and Board President is
Dr. Juan Gómez Quiñones, Professor of History and Chicana/o Studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. Gómez Quiñones was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in
East Los Angeles. Other Semillas
co-founders and leaders include Minnie Ferguson and Dr. Irene Vasquez, Director
of the Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies Program at the University of New
Mexico, both also of Indigenous descent.
Semillas operates two community-based charter schools in East Los
Angeles authorized by LAUSD—Xinaxcalmecac and Anahuacalmecac. The schools share an Indigenous Culture and
International Curriculum, and are dedicated to educational excellence through
the lens of the cultural and intellectual heritage of Native American
Peoples.
In a city with the largest concentration of Indigenous Peoples in the
United States, Semillas is the only school in Los Angeles (and the country)
that teaches an Indigenous language, Nahuatl, which is the most-spoken
Indigenous language in the Americas.
Semillas offers a curriculum in Nahuatl language and indigenous culture
that includes pedagogy, methodologies, mathematics, social practices and
instructional materials. Xinaxcalmecac
and Anahuacalmecac students learn to think in Nahuatl, study Native Mexican
mathematics, and practice Indigenous visual and performing arts.
“Huehuetlamachilistle”,
in Nahuatl, is at the core of Semillas’ instruction, and is the word Semillas
uses to refer to Aztec cultural, environmental, historic and cosmic knowledge
systems. Huehuetlamachilistle seeks to cut through euro-centric idealist
history over the past five hundred years, which grants the European perspective
the objective all-knowing voice to the detriment of the Indigenous record. More importantly, Huehuetlamachilistle is a
regenerative body of knowledge cultivated by Indigenous intellectuals, oral
traditions, literatures and various other keepers of wisdom about the universe
as it is experienced over time by Peoples indigenous to North America. Semillas schools cultivate Los Angeles
youth to become a voice for Indigenous Peoples in their community, and at a
continental level.
DISCRIMINATION
BY LAUSD AGAINST SEMILLAS
LAUSD
has long targeted Semillas for harassment and discrimination based on the
Mexican Aztec origin of Semillas’ leaders and the Indigenous culture and
curriculum of its schools. Below is a
non-exhaustive outline of discrimination by LAUSD against Semillas. This pattern and practice of unprecedented,
targeted harassment by LAUSD interferes with Semillas’ ability to educate the
students in its schools, and is to the detriment of public education in Los
Angeles.
1. Misuse of Semillas Petitioners’
Social Security Numbers and Ongoing Public Records Act Dispute
On April 17, 2012, when the Xinaxcalmecac charter
was up for renewal by LAUSD, LAUSD’s Director of Charter Schools Division, José
Cole-Gutiérrez, issued a board report recommending denial of the Xinaxcalmecac
charter, despite Xinaxcalmecac’s history of academic success. The board report
included a finding that “petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to successfully
implement the program set forth in the petition” based upon the refusal of the
lead petitioner (Marcos Aguilar) and other Xinaxcalmecac leaders to provide
their Social Security Numbers (“SSNs”) on LAUSD’s “due diligence questionnaire.[3]” The staff
report claimed it was LAUSD’s “policy” that all charter petitioners: (1)
provide their SSNs; (2) release LAUSD and its staff from any liability arising
from the release of such information; and (3) waive any rights to insist
that personal information, including SSNs and any information derived from
their use, be kept in any way confidential.
Under federal law, this “policy” of LAUSD
is illegal. When an agency requests
private information, it is required to cite the authority under which it is
solicited, the purposes for which it may be used, and the effect on the person
of not providing all or any part of the requested information. (5 U.S.C.
section 552a.) The “due diligence form” does not comply with these federal
requirements. Moreover, Sec. 7(a) (1) of
the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 makes it “unlawful for any . . . local
government agency to deny to any individual any right, benefit, or privilege
provided by law because of such individual's refusal to disclose his social
security account number.” By relying on
the Semillas petitioners’ refusal to provide SSNs as a basis for making adverse
findings regarding charter renewal, LAUSD violated the Semillas petitioners’
civil rights to privacy.
Further, by demanding that
petitioners waive their federally-protected civil rights to privacy, and expose
themselves to identity theft and unwarranted invasions of personal privacy by
LAUSD’s agents, including by the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”), as a
matter of policy and practice, LAUSD also violated the Semillas
petitioners’ civil rights under 42 U.S.C. section 1983. The due diligence form would allow LAUSD to publicly
release petitioners’ SSNs and other personal information without
liability—an unconscionable violation of the Semillas petitioners’ civil
rights.
Not only does the “due diligence
questionnaire” violate Semillas’ civil rights as a policy of LAUSD, we
believe LAUSD applies the policy in a discriminatory, selective manner
by only requiring certain charter schools to complete the form. On May 2, 2012,
Semillas sent LAUSD a California Public Records Act request for documents
related to the April 17, 2012 board report, the due diligence form and LAUSD’s
use of SSNs. One of the categories of documents Semillas requested was:
Request
No. 4: All Questionnaires returned to LAUSD by charter school petitioners other
than Semillas, whether in a current form or previous form, and whether or not
the Questionnaire was fully completed.
On
April 18, 2012, Semillas had sent LAUSD a “litigation hold” letter,
specifically asking LAUSD to retain these documents. LAUSD initially responded
to the Public Records Act Request by complaining that the request was too
broad, that responsive records would be “voluminous,” and that collecting each
document would be unduly “burdensome.” When Semillas reiterated its request for
the discrete documents in two separate letters, LAUSD finally responded five
months later on October 2, 2012 by stating that as to Request No. 4, “there are
no documents responsive to this request.” Just during the time between
Semillas’ litigation hold letter dated April 18, 2012 and LAUSD’s response
October 2, 2012, the LAUSD Board of Education considered twenty-five charter
school renewal petitions. LAUSD’s
response that there are no completed questionnaires must mean that either (1)
LAUSD destroyed the questionnaires for these 25 petitioners in contravention of
the demand for preservation of evidence, or (2) none of the 25 charter
petitioners was actually required to complete the questionnaire.
To date, LAUSD has produced a total of ten
documents in response to Semillas’ Public Record Act request, which LAUSD
claims are the only responsive documents. These ten documents barely
scratch the surface of the records Semillas knows exist, and do not include
several responsive documents Semillas already obtained from other
sources. The Public Records Act requires
agencies to respond to records requests within 10 days, and LAUSD’s capacious
staff has done so to countless records requests from other members of the
public. However, LAUSD chose to shelf
Semillas’ request for over five months, then produced a total of ten documents
that mostly constitute blank forms available on the LAUSD website.
Semillas’ counsel sent a lengthy follow-up to
LAUSD on October 10, 2012, which noted that there were many records missing
from LAUSD’s response, and painstakingly identified each and every record
Semillas knew existed because it had obtained or heard about from other
sources. LAUSD’s Assistant General Counsel promised to re-review the records
several times, and set an arbitrary deadline of October 31, 2012 for
“responding to your pending requests.” October 31st passed without a
word from LAUSD. As of today’s date,
LAUSD has not provided Semillas with any further response nor the documents it
is required by law to produce.
2. LAUSD’s
Recommendation for Notice of Violation for Revocation of Anahuacalmecac Charter
Based on LADBS Violation to be Corrected
Anahuacalmecac, like many
independent charter schools, occupies privately-owned facilities that are under
the jurisdiction of the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety
(“LADBS”), not LAUSD.
In 2009, LAUSD’s Office of the Independent Monitor (“OIM”) sampled
LAUSD charter school facilities to determine whether LADBS was doing its job to
ensure the charter school sites met State and federal accessibility
requirements. As a result of that
sample, LADBS agreed to re-inspect a number of charter school facilities. LADBS issued Orders to Comply in 2011 to the
owners of 29 charter school sites, including Anahuacalmecac, and provided
deadlines for compliance for each violation.
Like most charter schools, Semillas worked proactively with LADBS to
promptly correct each violation and/or set a timeline for compliance. One minor violation noted that “[a]t the
accessible entrance door, the level area shall have a length in the direction
of door swing at least 60 inches (This area [at Anahuacalmecac] exceeds 2%
slope.)” Semillas contracted with Access Pacific to install an automatic door
opener prior to the 2012-13 school year to address the issue, with the consent
and approval of LADBS. LADBS
communicated to Semillas that once this work was complete, the deficiency would
be waived and the OTC complete prior to September 1, 2012. As a courtesy, Semillas also communicated
this plan and timing to LAUSD, even though LADBS is the sole agency with
authority for permitting and enforcement of the occupancy and use of the
Anahuacalmecac facility. (Semillas also
had telephone communications with LAUSD staff about timing of repairs.)
Despite Semillas’ communication of the agreed resolution to LAUSD, and
despite LAUSD’s lack of jurisdiction, on August 21, 2012 (ten days before the
scheduled repair), LAUSD staff issued a board report recommending the LAUSD
Board issue a Notice of Violation for Anahuacalmecac. LAUSD singled out
Semillas among twenty-nine charter schools with OTCs, forcing Semillas
to respond to the Board that it had a valid Certificate of Occupancy for the
school site and was in the process of completing the OTC.
3. The
LAUSD OIG’s Continual, Unjustified “Audits” Of Semillas and Frivolous Lawsuit
Against Semillas
Every year, Semillas has provided LAUSD with an
audit by an independent auditor that shows no audit exceptions or negative
findings, yet every year, LAUSD “randomly” selects Semillas for an OIG audit.[4] The audits are not “random,” they have no
factual basis, and they constitute a pattern and practice of harassment and
discrimination that is disruptive to the schools and improperly redirects
scarce resources away from the classroom.
Moreover, when Semillas refuses to violate the civil rights of its
leaders and students by handing over certain information, LAUSD extrapolates
audit “findings.” Now, LAUSD has
completely circumvented the dispute resolution procedures under the charters
and sued Semillas for records in civil court.
The
pattern of discriminatory audits started in 2007, when the LAUSD OIG commenced
an audit of Xinaxcalmecac (formerly named “Academia Semillas”) based on claims
by Los Angeles radio host Doug McIntyre that Semillas’ Aztec curriculum by its
Indigenous Mexican leaders fostered an anti-American agenda of racial
separatism. On April 19, 2007, the OIG’s
Bernard Duffy, Audit Manager, sent a letter to Marcos Aguilar stating that “as
a result of a request by the Charter Schools Division Office,” it was
performing an internal audit of Semillas.
On April 26, 2007, the OIG’s Alfred Rodas, Deputy Inspector General,
sent a corrected letter to Marcos Aguilar stating that “the [OIG] has randomly
selected [Semillas] from a list of all charter schools in the LAUSD.” On May 8, 2007, due to the inconsistent
language in the OIG letters, Semillas made a Public Records Act request for
documents related to how Semillas was “randomly selected” for an audit. On May 30, 2007, LAUSD responded by producing
several troubling documents, including a copy of Judicial Watch’s
special report on Semillas, an article that published many of the false and
inflammatory accusations made by Doug McIntyre based on the race and ethnic
origin of Semillas’ leaders. Semillas
responded to LAUSD by noting that the response was incomplete since there were
no records related to how Academia was “randomly selected” for the audit. Instead of responding, the OIG dropped the
audit of Semillas.
On
April 20, 2009, Amanda Roberson, OIG Audit Manager, notified Semillas that the
OIG was conducting an audit of Anahuacalmecac’s admission process and requested
Marcos Aguilar to complete a questionnaire.
On April 30, 2009, Marcos Aguilar returned the questionnaire, and on
June 18, 2009, the OIG’s Luceli Ceja, Audit Supervisor, sent a clarifying
letter that Anahuacalmecac had been “randomly selected” for an audit of the
school’s admissions process. Semillas again made a Public Records Act request
for records related to how Anahuacalmecac was “randomly selected.” On June 26, 2009, the OIG’s Alfred Rodas
responded that
LAUSD would be willing to reschedule the audit to a later date. Semillas responded that a later audit date
did not comply with the Public Records Act as it did not state whether any of
the requested documents about the “random” audit would be produced. Semillas also informed the OIG that the
school would be closed on the date the OIG wanted to conduct the audit, and
offered to mail audit documents to the OIG.
On July 8, 2009, LAUSD’s Helen Fludd produced three “responsive”
documents, which did not contain any records related to how Anahuacalmecac was
“randomly selected” for the audit.
Semillas again pointed out the deficiency, and on July 28, 2009, the
OIG’s Alfred Rodas responded that LAUSD considered the Public Records Act
request fulfilled. Further, Alfred Rodas
stated that since Semillas was closed in July, it could produce the documents
via mail, but the OIG would not sign a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) confidentiality agreement to protect student privacy, as requested by
Semillas. On August 3, 2009, Alfred
Rodas left Marcos Aguilar a voicemail stating that if LAUSD’s failure to sign
the FERPA confidentiality agreement meant that Semillas would not produce the
requested audit documents, it was “fine” but the OIG would “note it” in their
report.
During the LAUSD Board hearing for
renewal of the Xinaxcalmecac charter on April 17, 2012, LAUSD Board member
Bennett Kayser stated he had received an email that morning notifying him that
the OIG was conducting an audit of Semillas and its charter schools, officers
or employees. The email insinuated that the “audit” was retaliation by LAUSD
for Semillas’ refusal to comply with LAUSD’s unlawful request for its
petitioners’ SSNs during the Xinaxcalmecac charter renewal proceedings. (Ex. 20.)
On May 4, 2012, Semillas made a Public Records Act request for records
related to how its charter schools, officers or employees were selected for an
audit. To date, LAUSD has failed to produce a single document.
On April 20, 2012, Semillas received a request for documents from the
OIG as part of its audit, styled as a “subpoena duces tecum.” The “subpoena”
was repetitive of document requests from LAUSD’s Charter Division made on
October 10, 2011 and November 15, 2011, which sought identical documents under
LAUSD’s authority as charter authorizer. Semillas had responded to the October
and November requests by producing a full binder of documents on January 16,
2012, and attended several follow-up meetings with LAUSD staff and legal
counsel to discuss the records. There
were also follow-up visits to Semillas’ sites in January and February 2012,
including a visit by Aaron Eairleywine on January 17, 2012, during which the
school’s records were again reviewed.
In its May 22, 2012 response to the OIG’s “subpoena,” Semillas’
counsel noted line-by-line which documents Semillas had already produced to
LAUSD, which documents it could not produce (protected student records, for
example), and which categories were so broad they appeared to ask for copies of
literally every record Semillas possessed. Semillas’ counsel asked the OIG to
indicate how to resolve these issues.
Neither the OIG nor anyone else at LAUSD responded, and on June 4, 2012,
Semillas’ counsel sent a follow-up letter requesting confirmation that the
“subpoena” was closed. On June 8, 2012, Inspector General Jess Womack responded
stating that the subpoena was “still outstanding,” but failed to clarify the
unresolved document requests. His letter also demanded that Semillas not
respond to him directly, and insisted Semillas wait for communication from an
unidentified “retained counsel.” Semillas did not hear anything further about
any OIG “audit” for four months.
On August 1, 2012, LAUSD sent Semillas a Public Records Act request
demanding “all records that supported the audit” of Semillas by its independent
auditor for fiscal year 2011. Semillas responded that because independent
auditors base their opinions on samples of an entity’s total financial and
non-financial records, Semillas had no way of knowing or producing the records
that “supported the audit.” LAUSD then responded that it wanted all the
records Semillas possessed or generated in 2011. Semillas repeatedly asked
LAUSD to review the prior productions and inform Semillas what was missing. On
September 12, 2012, LAUSD’s attorney Carl Piper emailed a “list,” which
Semillas responded to line-by-line in a September 26, 2012 letter.
By letters dated September 27 and October 1, 2012, LAUSD’s retained
litigation attorney Ann Wu informed Semillas that LAUSD was still demanding
records. On October 5, 2012, Semillas responded by invoking the dispute
resolution procedure under Element 14 of the Xinaxcalmecac charter.
On October 22, 2012, LAUSD further escalated the harassment and
circumvented the dispute resolution procedure by serving Semillas with a
lawsuit for failure to produce records—the first of its kind against a charter
school. The lawsuit claimed Semillas had failed to produce records in response
to a “subpoena” as well as a Public Records Act request.
Several days later, on October 25, 2012, after Semillas had begun to
incur legal fees to defend the lawsuit and had demanded mediation per the
charter contract, LAUSD dismissed the lawsuit.
LAUSD did not explain the dismissal and Semillas only learned about it
from the Court on October 31, 2012. The
lawsuit was dismissed “without prejudice,” leaving room for LAUSD to re-file it
at any time.
On November 2, 2012, Semillas’ counsel sent a letter to LAUSD’s
General Counsel asking, again, for a response to Semillas’ request for dispute
resolution. The letter noted that LAUSD was in violation of its charter
obligations to Semillas for failing to engage in dispute resolution. LAUSD
provided no response for over two weeks, leaving Semillas to wonder whether the
lawsuit would be re-filed, when the harassment would resume, and what documents
LAUSD still wanted from Semillas. On
November 19, 2012, Carl Piper responded on behalf of LAUSD counsel: “This issue
is moot. The District is not pursuing
either the IG subpoena or the PRA.” This email is just the latest in LAUSD’s
long history of “dropped” audits against Semillas.
After
voluntarily dropping the lawsuit and telling Semillas that there was no dispute
about missing documents, LAUSD turned around and published a memorandum that
blamed Semillas for its “lack of cooperation.” In a memorandum to Jose
Cole-Gutierrez and the LAUSD Board of Education, the LAUSD OIG reported:
We could not conduct the audit
because the management of [Semillas] did not provide us the requested information
or documentation to plan the audit work to address the audit objectives. Repeated attempts to obtain this information
from the school were unsuccessful. . . . As a result, we are reporting a scope
limitation for this audit due to the following reasons: There was no data to be
audited since [Semillas] did not provide the records . . . [and] Lack of
cooperation from the management of [Semillas].
Accordingly, we are unable to provide an opinion on the financial
condition or on other compliance and internal control issues affecting
[Semillas]
·
LAUSD’s misuse of Social Security
Numbers is particularly harassing in light of the prevalent political rhetoric
hostile to the rights of so-called “undocumented” persons of indigenous Mexican
origin.
LAUSD currently has a “policy” that requires charter petitioners to
complete a “due diligence questionnaire” that: 1) requires petitioners’ Social
Security Numbers (“SSNs”) as a condition of charter school renewal/approval; 2)
releases LAUSD and its staff from any liability arising from the release of
SSNs; and 3) waives any rights of individuals to insist that SSNs be kept
confidential. This policy facially
violates 5 U.S.C. section 552a,[5]
and moreover, LAUSD continues to apply the illegal policy in a selective,
discriminatory way that violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In 2012 and 2013, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy opposed Semillas’
charter renewal petition because Semillas’ leaders, who are well-known to be of
indigenous Mexican origin, exercised their right to not provide their SSNs to
LAUSD for LAUSD to “investigate” them. Semillas’ leaders have continually
articulated that LAUSD’s “papers please” demand reflected an actual and/or
institutionalized racial bias against persons of Mexican origin in light of the
well-documented abuses surrounding immigration and rights of families, with or
without citizenship documentation, to attend and enjoy public schools within
the District.
Semillas then immediately requested documentation from LAUSD to
determine whether LAUSD had ever recommended other non-Mexican led charters
for denial based on failure to submit SSNs.
Based upon the information LAUSD provided, it appears that similar
recommendations for denial had never occurred, even though non-Mexican
charter petitioners frequently did not submit SSNs verifying their
citizenship. For instance, just between
April and October 2012, the LAUSD Board of Education considered 25 charter
petitions, and none were recommended for denial based on a failure to provide
SSNs. As late as October 2012, LAUSD’s
attorneys still promised to release information about the due diligence
questionnaires and LAUSD’s use of SSNs.
However, to date, LAUSD continues to stonewall Semillas’ attempts to
obtain public records that will shed
light on discriminatory use of SSNs at LAUSD.
4.
LAUSD
Sabotage of Semillas Student Records and Unreasonable Delay in Permitting
Semillas Staff Access to Welligent
On
October 23, 2012, when Semillas staff logged into Welligent, LAUSD’s web-based software system
used for online IEPs and tracking of related services, it discovered that LAUSD
staff had tampered with several student files.
Several current, enrolled Semillas student files had been made
“inactive” by LAUSD staff, and LAUSD had
even entered an “exit date” for one student.
Semillas staff took screen shots of every tampered student file and
communicated the problem by phone and email to various District staff. Semillas staff also manually “re-activated”
all student files on Welligent and set up the schedules again to track and
input student services. Semillas staff worked well into the
weekend to correct errors that were manually inputted by an LAUSD staff member,
to make sure the charter school was not identified as “noncompliant.” However, based on the tampering by
its own staff, LAUSD identified
Semillas as “noncompliant” for the week.
LAUSD
has also unreasonably delayed Semillas employees’ access to Welligent because
the employees are former LAUSD employees.
LAUSD expects Semillas’ staff to wait two weeks or longer to be assigned
access to Welligent, yet Semillas is monitored on a weekly basis to determine
whether students have received services.
LAUSD has also denied Semillas the opportunity to submit logs signed by
students as evidence of the students’ receipt of services.
5. LAUSD
School Police Barred Semillas’ Executive Director From Attending a LAUSD Board
Meeting in Traditional Regalia
At the LAUSD Board’s April 17, 2012 meeting, LAUSD School Police
barred Semillas’ Executive Director, Marcos Aguilar, from entry to the Board
Room because he was dressed in traditional regalia. Mr. Aguilar was dressed in
traditional formal clothing of the indigenous peoples of
Mexico and carried
with him cultural ceremonial objects to attend to the public hearing of the
petition for renewal of the Xinaxcalmecac charter. Mr. Aguilar was only allowed
into the Board Room by four armed School Police after he was forced to
surrender his ceremonial regalia. The incident forced Mr. Aguilar to choose
between symbolic mediation or exclusion from the very meeting where the Board
would decide the fate of the charter school students he represents. The incident was an embarrassment to Mr.
Aguilar and an affront to his civil liberties, and took place in the full view
of students and parents in attendance who were also waiting to enter the
facility.
The pattern and practice of discrimination by LAUSD against Semillas
based on its leaders’ and students’ Indigenous Mexican descent is a violation
of our community’s right to an autonomous quality education. While we have requested various authorities
and civil rights organizations investigate this complaint of discrimination and
enforce federal civil rights laws against LAUSD to ensure Semillas’ students
have equal access to education, all requests have been ignored to date.
[1] http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-announces-resolution-civil-rights-investigation-los-angeles
[2] According to the CDE’s Dataquest
website, “Data for this district is not available since this
district did not complete and certify the Spring 2010-11 CALPADS Data
Submission. Therefore English learner (EL) data by language or Fluent-English
Proficient (FEP) data by language are not available.” In a year when the OCR is
investigating the educational discrimination of English Language learners, this
seems like an unconscionable omission of data. Nevertheless, this data was
retrievable from Ed-Data, a partnership of the California
Department of Education, EdSource and the Fiscal Crisis & Management
Assistance Team.
[3] The LAUSD Board of Education voted
5-4 to renew the Xinaxcalmecac charter despite the board report recommendation
to deny. (Exhibit 2.)
[4] Semillas has long disagreed with
LAUSD that the OIG has any independent audit authority over Semillas under
Education Code section 35400 and 35401.
[5] 5 U.S.C. section 552a provides that when an agency requests private
information, it is required to cite the authority under which it is solicited,
the purposes for which it may be used, and the effect on the person of not providing
all or any part of the requested information.
LAUSD’s “due diligence form” requesting petitioners’ SSNs does not
comply. Further, Section 7(a)(1) of the
Federal Privacy Act of 1974 makes it “unlawful for any . . . local government
agency to deny any individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law
because of such individual’s refusal to disclose his social security account
number.”
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