#AnotherDayAnotherCharterScandal
Accountability Delayed (Again)
The LACOE Board still hasn’t revoked the North Valley Military Institute’s (NVMI) charter but tells parents to start looking for new schools.
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“This feels like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
– LACOE Board Member Theresa Montaño, Ed.D.
While Jerry Brown’s lobbying efforts last week may have delayed the closure of the North Valley Military Institute (NVMI), he does not appear to have changed the rogue charter school’s trajectory. He was able to get the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) Board to cancel its scheduled vote to revoke the charter at its August 15, 2023 meeting. However, this motion was replaced by consideration of yet another Notice of Violation. The postponement will only harm the students as it allows the charter school to leave them in a state of limbo instead of helping them to transition to new schools in an orderly manner.
Digging in against NVMI’s politically connected supporters, the staff at LACOE presented to their board a detailed case of how the charter school continues to be plagued by systematic structural failures. The evidence was so overwhelming that it resulted at times in audible gasps from the audience.
Swayed by the evidence, the LACOE Board voted unanimously to issue a Notice of Violation giving the school until August 30, 2023, to fix the multitude of violations or face charter revocation. While NVMI’s charter is still technically active, the charter school was specifically told that it cannot lawfully open.
With LAUSD schools having already started the new school year, NVMI’s students are falling further behind every day that the charter school pretends that it will open again. LACOE’s Superintendent, Debra Duardo, implored NVMI to inform parents that they should immediately enroll their children in new schools. At publication, no such message appears on the charter school’s website. Instead, NVMI indicates that it is still holding “Entrance Camp” and enrolling new students.
