1/24 My second big win in court against a charter school corporation. It was also a major victory over their #CCSA trade association, which tried to use this case to carve out immunity to the #CPRA. I represented @DotKohlhaas in this action.
https://twitter.com/rdsathene/status/1374187610004803590@DianeRavitch
2/24 My first win was a year ago as third chair in a suit to overturn a wrongful expulsion of a student of color. The PUC charter chain (of convicted felon Ref Rodriguez fame) violated that student's due process rights. Violated isn't a strong enough word for what they did.
3/24 PUC unilaterally changed the charges at the appeals hearing and branded the child as a terrorist in his permanent record. Under the tutelage of the brilliant partners at the firm (lawyer4children.com), plus sage advice from @DrPrestonGreen, we built a strong case.
4/24 It was my argument that the charter corporation never proved specific intent—a crucial element to Ed. Code § 48900.7, as well as PUC's glaring lack of notice afforded to the student, that saw the court overturn the wrongful expulsion and give the student their life back.
5/24 This latest case was a charter trying to hide all its dirty secrets by not complying with the California Public Records Act. The scandal-ridden TAS charter chain's leaders absconded when the community started pushing back and started asking questions about union busting.
6/24 MichaelKohlhaas.org sent TAS several #CPRA requests in 2018, which they ignored (unlawfully). A year later, I filed the petition for writ of mandate. Some ten months later they sent some records, but claimed "blanket exemptions" on a bunch of other ones.
7/24 The good folks at Michael Kohlhaas dot org documented the part when it was decided to continue with the litigation. This was for Hilda, an amazing educator, and all the other people wronged by TAS/CCSA. michaelkohlhaas.org/wp/2021/01/24/…
8/24 An infamous law firm that only represents lucrative, privately managed charter school corporations staked out the position that any communications with the charter school industry's trade association — the CCSA — was subject to a range of exemptions under the #CPRA
#LAUSD
#LAUSD
9/24 I suppose I can't blame them. The charter industry—long used to unaccountably spending tax dollars in total secrecy—fought tooth and nail the imposition of the #CPRA and Brown Act added by Ed. Code § 47604.1(b)(2)(A). When the law took effect January 2020, charter school…
10/24 corporations were already looking for ways to skirt the law. At the firm I'm a junior associate at, we use the #CPRA for pre-discovery work against charter corporations. Kohlhaas dot org, on the other hand, has used it to expose some of the ugliest, scandalous…
11/24 conduct by an industry already infamous for scandal. Uncovering the vile @nickmelvoin's sharing #LAUSD's confidential legal strategies with their party-opponent in a lawsuit (CCSA) was a blockbuster revelation enabled by the #CPRA. michaelkohlhaas.org/wp/2019/07/31/…
12/24 Of course, when you start using the sunshine laws on one of the darkest and vilest industries hatched out of the neoliberal project, you're going to expose a lot of charter school scandals. There's so many documented here: michaelkohlhaas.org/wp/tag/califor… #LAUSD
13/24 Back to TAS claiming blanket exemptions. When I tried to explain the law to them, they responded: “The claim based on your legal analysis that these exemptions do not apply to the records withheld in this matter is incorrect.”
14/24 I was a little nervous going into this, but got a great deal of advice from three @NLGnews attorneys who have also represented @DotKohlhaas in the past like the incomparable @MatthewStrugar, Colleen Flynn, and @CPRAlawyer. The two former helped me with…
15/24 procedural questions and sample pleadings. The latter provided me argument strategies for my reply brief and gave me the best authority to cite on exemptions (53 Cal. App. 5th 733). How on point was that? The Court cited that same case three times in the minute order.
16/24 We had already prevailed since the lawsuit caused TAS to produce some records last October, but the dispute over the blanket CCSA exemptions was a proxy political battle. TAS surprisingly claimed exemptions on emails that Michael Kohlhaas dot org had obtained…
17/24 via #CPRA from other charter school corporations that had followed the law. Weird hill to die on, but this was the #CCSA trying to establish blanket exemptions. The Court ruled that every one of those emails was not exempt! A major win for us. Also, because we…
18/24 caught TAS in (several) obvious lies, including one where they claimed in one pleading that only a small percentage of documents had been exempted, and then had a high-paid TAS executive claim in their sworn declaration that there were "hundreds of thousands" of…
19/24 records exempted. We pointed out that inconsistency, which led to the court granting our request for a privilege log. Better still, the court used 53 Cal. App. 5th 733 to order TAS to produce declarations for each record they claim exempt. While we didn't get…
20/24 everything we put in our prayer, this was a major victory—especially in regards to the claims for blanket exemptions from the CCSA. I'm sure this isn't the last time they'll try this strategy, but at least we can share how to argue against it. The final disposition… 
21/24 will be decided in the summer, but TAS having to produce privilege logs supported by sworn declarations totally justified us continuing to litigate after the settlement offer. Let the corporate charter school industry know that they aren't going to be able to hide…
22/24 their dark secrets anymore. Here's a few excerpts from my briefs that probably didn't sit well with the corporate charter school industry, their #CCSA trade association, and their hired mercenaries. ¡La lucha continua!
23/24 Lastly, huge shout-out to @DotKohlhaas. They're doing the lord's work. From exposing self-dealing by tax payer funded BIDS, to uncovering some extremely disturbing activities by the LAPD, to putting the lucrative, corporate charter school industry on notice that the…
24/24 sunshine laws are coming for them, to using the #CPRA to protect the most vulnerable in our communities, like I always say: "not all heroes wear capes." invisiblepeople.tv/modern-day-mic…
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