On Friday, Bullis attorneys file motions with the court seeking attorney fees from the 2019-10 lawsuit.
The basis of their motion is the "Private Attorney General Doctrine". As I understand it, that law allows parties to a lawsuit to recover their costs in certain circumstances.
I'm not going to debate the merits of the suit here- again, I prefer that those arguments be made in front of a judge. However, I will point out the foolishness of bringing such a motion.
Throughout the past several years, BCS has asserted that they want to be "accepted as part of the community". I'm not sure how the BCS Board believes that demanding $1.3M from a public school district will endear them to our community. To put this in perspective, $1.3M would pay for about a dozen teachers. If BCS prevails in this effort, we'll be laying off a lot of teachers to pay for their demands.
BCS speaks proudly of their "values curriculum".** I wonder what values this teaches their students? One of their parents famously told the SCCBOE that they were "educating the future leaders" What set of values is this instilling in them?
Beyond the question of values, there's just good old common sense. When I've spoken to their board about this in the past, they've simply asserted "well, it is our legal right." Given that BCS spends more on their professional PR firm each year than we do in a whole decade, I can't imagine what they were thinking. Demanding $1.3M from LASD might sit within the bounds of the law, but if you expect that the people of our community will "accept and welcome" you, well, you are not very good judges of human nature.
Bullis BPA ISO Legal Fees
Wallace Dec ISO Motion for Attorneys Fees
Wallace Dec Ex A
Proposed Order Awarding Attorneys Fees
POS re Attorneys Fee Motion
** I'm always somewhat annoyed when BCS hypes parts of their program that have existed within the LASD program for years, or even decades. It's one thing to mimic our program and call it "new". It is hypocritical to mimic us, call it unique, and then tell your kids what great values you're teaching them.
