New School Year, Same Old PR Stunts

Once again, BCS has proven they are willing to use children to create PR stunts.

In the summer of 2012, BCS refused to answer questions about student furniture.  As a result, LASD was forced to make decisions about where to put furniture for the BCS students.  Shortly after school started, BCS then hired expensive luxury coaches to take students over to the Blach campus for a photo op.  They snapped pictures of kids on the floor, and then ran to court, asking the judge to condemn LASD for failing to provide adequate equipment for BCS.  Fortunately, LASD had a full record of the discussions, including email history showing that BCS had intentionally stalled.  The courts saw through the charade and threw the complaint out.

Fast forward to this year. 

The facilities offer for 2013-14 is specifically crafted to provide complete facilities for BCS K-5 students at the Egan campus, and complete facilities for BCS 6-8 students at Blach.  There are enough classrooms, flex space, library space, offices, and yes, playground space and asphalt play space for all BCS K-5 students at the Egan facility, and similarly we've made appropriate arrangements to share space for BCS middle school students at Blach.  The Final Offer spells all of this out.  BCS agreed to this condition when they signed the Facilities Use Agreement for the school year.  Knowing all of this, and fully aware that they've legally agreed NOT to take K-3 students to Blach, BCS chose to do it anyway.  So what happened?

BCS took photos of children playing where they aren't supposed to be playing, and then blames LASD for the situation.  They've run another full page ad in the Town Crier, complaining that LASD hasn't properly shared facilities.  Of course they fail to mention that those exact same kids have an empty playground just a few miles away.

At some level, I'm amazed that parents tolerate this.  I have school-aged kids of my own.  I would be furious if the school to which I'd entrusted them took my children to a facility that is not properly prepared for them.  I'd be even more outraged if I realized that my child was being used by a highly paid PR firm as nothing more than an extra in a photo shoot designed to mislead the public in my own community.

This trick was a bad idea last time, and the courts saw right through it.  Does the BCS PR team really think so little of our community that you'd try the same trick all over again?