{"id":1632694,"date":"2022-09-04T16:33:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T20:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1632694"},"modified":"2022-09-04T16:34:38","modified_gmt":"2022-09-04T20:34:38","slug":"california-school-district-trying-to-oust-christian-school-citing-building-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-school-district-trying-to-oust-christian-school-citing-building-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"California School District Trying To Oust Christian School Citing Building Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcalifornia-school-district-trying-to-oust-christian-school-citing-building-safety%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1632694&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A California school district is trying to shut down a\u00a0private Christian\u00a0school, citing building safety concerns the school says are baseless.<\/p>\n<p>The Ventura Unified School District (VUSD), just northwest of Los Angeles, is demanding Ventura County Christian School (VCCS) vacate the school\u2019s premises, claiming one of the buildings is structurally unsafe for students.<\/p>\n<p>On August 19, three days before school was supposed to start, the district told the school that the facility was dangerous and that it would not renew the school\u2019s lease for the property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe understand the difficult timing of this,\u201d Marieanne Quiroz, a district spokeswoman,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/2022\/08\/30\/ventura-county-christian-school-opens-first-day-ventura-unified-school-district-gives-notice-vacate\/7926709001\/\">told<\/a> the Ventura County Star.\u00a0\u201cWe did and continue to do our very best to make accommodations for the school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cThey have put their blood, sweat and tears into the school for 30 years. I understand that devotion and sense of loss,\u201d Sabrena Rodriguez, the district board president, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/2022\/08\/30\/ventura-county-christian-school-opens-first-day-ventura-unified-school-district-gives-notice-vacate\/7926709001\/\">said<\/a> last weekend. \u201cBut as a public agency, the school district has very clear direction for the decisions they have to make.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The school pushed back, saying the district\u2019s safety claim was unfounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just do not agree that the classroom is unsafe. We feel that other intentions are at play,\u201d school principal Perry Geue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/2022\/08\/27\/ventura-unified-school-district-county-christian-school\/7922165001\/\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On August 29, the school decided to defy the district and welcomed students back to begin the school year anyway. The district responded with a three-day notice to vacate the premises.<\/p>\n<p>The school has leased the buildings from the district for more than two decades, but the lease expired in June. At the time, the district told VCCS it wanted to do another safety analysis before agreeing to another long-term lease. As recently as September 2021, the district commissioned a safety analysis that found the school was safe for occupancy.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, during negotiations for the new lease, VCCS noticed that the district had included a \u201cNon-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity\u201d clause in the new lease that the school was concerned might prevent it from hiring only Christian teachers or teaching a Christian curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could potentially be forced to hire teachers who don\u2019t hold to a Christian worldview,\u201d the principal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/2022\/08\/27\/ventura-unified-school-district-county-christian-school\/7922165001\/\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The school asked the district to delete that paragraph but went ahead and paid two months\u2019 rent, thinking they still had an agreement, according to their lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>Then three days before\u00a0school was supposed to start,\u00a0the district informed VCCS that\u00a0the new June safety report found the school building was unsafe and they would not renew the lease.<\/p>\n<p>However, the safety report did not actually recommend that the school building be vacated. It did recommend closer inspection and installing more supports and bracing.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the school hired another independent firm to conduct a second review of the school building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile further study of the building is prudent, nothing on-site or in the recommendations by the [district-commissioned report] warrants vacating the facility at this time,\u201d stated the school-commissioned report.<\/p>\n<p>Ron Bamieh, a lawyer for the school, called the district\u2019s safety claims \u201cbaseless\u201d and \u201ccompletely disingenuous\u201d and said the district might have other motivations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVCCS has been at that location for 22 years with no issues or concerns ever being raised about the safety of the school,\u201d Bamieh told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is subterfuge,\u201d Bamieh said. \u201cVUSD just lacks the courage to be perceived as closing a Christian school because they want to sell that property so the City can build low-cost housing: or because they know those kids will have no reasonable alternative but to re-enroll in public school and they will benefit from the boost of enrollment of 200 kids in their school system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the school is weathering a rent hike from the district, although this was expected, according to Bamieh. The school\u2019s property value has increased dramatically in the last two decades thanks in part to repairs and upgrades VCCS made, worth about $3.5 million <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/2022\/08\/30\/ventura-county-christian-school-opens-first-day-ventura-unified-school-district-gives-notice-vacate\/7926709001\/\">according<\/a> to the principal.<\/p>\n<p>Rent went from $2000 a month for the first 18 years the school rented the buildings to $4000 from 2019 to 2021, and then up to $12,000 a month in the new lease. Initially, the district <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/story\/news\/2022\/08\/30\/ventura-county-christian-school-opens-first-day-ventura-unified-school-district-gives-notice-vacate\/7926709001\/\">wanted<\/a> to charge the school $27,000 per month.<\/p>\n<p>On the discrimination clause, Bamieh said the private Christian school is in the right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVCCS is a private school, the law allows them the freedom to practice their religion,\u201d the attorney said. \u201cAny government organization that attempts to inhibit that practice has infringed on that freedom and is illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the attorney said he does not take the school\u2019s opponent lightly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny lawyer who fights a large governmental agency would be a fool not to be concerned about the effect of huge resources, connections, and the power the government brings to the outcome of any legal matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Jenn Plew, a mom with two students at VCCS, has been actively fighting for the school and said she feels the district is \u201csearching for reasons to get the school out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel that VUSD is being a bully<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A California school district is trying to shut down a\u00a0private Christian\u00a0school, citing building safety concerns the school says are baseless. The Ventura Unified School District (VUSD), just northwest of Los Angeles, is demanding Ventura County Christian School (VCCS) vacate the school\u2019s premises, claiming one of the buildings is structurally unsafe for students. On August 19, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1632696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1632694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1632694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1632696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1632694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1632694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1632694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}