“Campos said she resigned because she did not agree with the decision to mandate a vaccine for any of the staff or student body.”

- ABC7

When Granada Hills High School first left the LAUSD to become an independent charter, parents were given a seat at the table. Two positions on the governing board were reserved for parents who were elected by their peers. Today, there is only one parent representative on that board and this person is chosen by the board. According to the school’s charter, this person must “support the charter school’s goals, mission, and vision.”

Until recently the parent representative on Granada’s board was Maribel Campos. As a trained “parent ambassador” Campos was a frequent speaker on behalf of Granada and other charter schools. Having proved her loyalty Campos could be trusted to agree with the administration's requests without any semblance of independent oversight.

For her service to the administrators at Granada, Campos was recognized as a “Parent Of The Month” by Nick Melvoin’s astroturf group Speak Up. Ironically, they cited her “courage to consistently speak up on behalf of kids” for giving her the award. This was exactly the opposite of her role on the Granada Board as a rubber stamp for the administration, even when their actions hurt the children.

The one thing that Campos was willing to speak out against was Granada’s actions to protect their students from COVID-19. When the governing board was asked to approve the firing of seven staff members who refused to receive the COVID vaccine, Campos quit in protest. It was almost as if she could not bring herself to vote against the wishes of the administration. Rather than be disloyal she removed herself from the situation.

It is not surprising that a cheerleader for the charter school industry would also succumb to the anti-vax hysteria as both sets of beliefs require a cult-like adherence to dogma. Die-hard charter school supporters accept cherry-picked data to “prove” that these schools are superior to their public counterparts while ignoring the corruption, harm to children, and academic failures of this privatized system. Teachers and their unions are somehow demonized while people with no classroom experience are seen as saviors.

Anti-Vaxers pretend that they are qualified to analyze medical research while discrediting experts who have devoted their careers to fighting disease. They see no lessons to be learned from the 855,843 people who have died during the pandemic and campaign against measures that would save lives.

Granada will easily find a replacement for Campos as the school’s community is filled with parents who are ready to attack anyone who questions the status quo at the school. With no real oversight, the administration is free to continue endangering students and engaging in financial improprieties. Meanwhile, the district continues to fail at providing the oversight required at charter schools that it has authorized.

Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He is an elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and serves as the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.