By Becky Leveque, Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council Education Chair and Wendy Moore for the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council
Back to school was off to a great start for 805 students and counting at Castlebay Lane Charter Elementary with an after school picnic where Councilmember Mitchell Englander donated $50,000 to the school’s Parents and Teacher’s Helping (PATH) organization. “PATH is thrilled with this unexpected gift! We will be meeting to determine how to best use the money on behalf of the students,” said PATH President Laurel Tidemanson. PATH currently provides art, music, and computer instruction and a host of supplies and field trip buses for Castlebay students. It should be noted that PRCS has also received $50,000 from the Councilman. Both school are strongly considering using the funds for technology.
LAPD assists with traffic control during morning drop off in front of water damaging building at Castlebay.
Unfortunately the New Year took a turn for the worse on Wednesday, August 20 when a fire sprinkler broke in classroom 10 which is upstairs in the building that houses third grade, kindergarten, a few second grade classes and the library. The entire upstairs carpet was covered in water ankle deep, as was downstairs. LAUSD is moving quickly to get the building back in working order. Everything in room 10 was a loss. The upstairs carpet has been removed and will be replaced with tile when the floor is dry. New ceiling tiles will be installed. They are using infrared equipment to search for dampness in the walls and will rebuild as necessary. Most of the furniture is fine with the exception of some book cases. It appears most of the library books are undamaged. The expected timeframe to have the classrooms back in action is three to four weeks.
Buses wait to transport students to Frost. Multipurpose room under construction.
While LAUSD was assessing the damage, students were quickly relocated. Seven classrooms travel daily by bus with their teachers to Frost where students are separated from the middle school which has generously mobilized to make almost a whole building wing available. Recess and lunch are scheduled at different times from the existing students to allow the elementary students to play and not disturb the middle school students. Castlebay parent Renee Missakian is grateful for Frost, “They have been very welcoming and accommodating. I am just hoping that it won’t be more than a month…”
The kindergarten students are meeting in existing classrooms at Castlebay including the Science Lab, the Computer Lab, the multipurpose room and more. A total of 14 classrooms are displaced. The situation continues to evolve as the school aims to best meet the needs of students.
In other construction news, Castlebay’s new multipurpose room is ahead of schedule. It was planned to open in March, but may be ready by the end of winter break. The foundation was prepared for the new YMCA bungalow during the summer, but there were timing challenges which are still being addressed with the delivery and installation of the bungalow itself.
Porter Ranch Community School and Oat Mountain
PRCS By The Numbers: PRCS is in its third year serving 1,040 students grades K-8. 224 students are new with many families moving into the area.
Today the PRNC can share some news from Education Chair Becky Leveque. As a result of the PRNC Town Hall Meeting that was held in June, the Los Angeles Board of Education has agreed to additional funding for the Porter Ranch Community School.
The Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council was contacted last week by Barbara Jones, Chief of Staff for School Board Member Tamar Galatzan. We were informed that the new school funding system that Board Member Tamara Galatzan spoke about at our June meeting enabled the LAUSD to assign assistant principals to all elementary schools. Two campuses would share each administrator on a half-time basis.
Board Member Galatzan noticed that the Porter Ranch Community School, along with other span schools (typically including elementary and middle schools), had inadvertently been overlooked in the process. Span Schools are fairly new to the LAUSD. Like all things in life, there is a learning curve. Ms. Galatzan brought this to the attention of Superintendent Deasy. After speaking with Principal Mary Melvin about the needs of the PRCS, Dr. Deasy agreed to fund half of the salary for a co-coordinator for the PRCS. Ms. Mindy Park will continue as the coordinator for the Porter Ranch Community School!
The PRNC thanks Tamar Galatzan and the PRCS parent volunteers, especially Teresa Subburathinam and Carrie Jones. Together, we have made another dream a reality!
Castlebay MPR Under Construction August 2014. Foundation awaiting YMCA Bungalow.
Update:
YMCA Bungalow installed late September 2014. Planned to be ready late 2014.
