Renaissance Academy has leased a new school site in West L.A. Starting this fall, students will attend classes in the 15,000-sq.-ft. space at 1901 Bundy, just north of Olympic and across from Bally’s Fitness Center. ‘The space is a former studio with arched beamed ceilings and an abundance of parking,’ said Scott Adler, Renaissance board member and parent. ‘It will probably house RA for about two to three years, at which time we hope to have established a permanent facility either by way of purchase or agreement with LAUSD for space on one of its properties.’ The charter high school had hoped to secure a space on a Los Angeles Unified School District campus under Proposition 39, which requires public school districts to provide charter schools with reasonably equivalent facilities. Renaissance filed a lawsuit against LAUSD last June when the District refused its request for a space. Now, the District has denied the school’s request for mediation, according to Adler, who said: ‘We will ask the lower court to rehear the case or appeal same.’ Meanwhile, Renaissance classes are scheduled to end June 24, with ‘slight modifications for students participating in summer programs,’ according to Paul McGlothlin, principal and executive director. Seniors will graduate June 17. The new school site has ‘substantially more space than we have right now,’ McGlothlin told the Palisadian-Post last Thursday. ‘Everything’s on one level and we’ll have a nice courtyard.’ The tenants who occupy the other half of the Bundy building use it to store furniture, McGlothlin said. ‘We probably won’t get a lot of complaints from the furniture.’ Renaissance’s opening last September in Pacific Palisades was a tumultuous transition for school and community. The landlord of the Alma Real building terminated the school’s lease effective June 2005 after only three days of school, and Renaissance filed suit against Village Real Estate (owner of the building) in an attempt to gain more use of its renovated 13,600-sq.-ft. space. In light of the school’s harsh beginnings, the Post asked McGlothlin what he will do differently this time. ‘We’re going to give ourselves more breathing room as far as time frames go.’ By this, he means the time it takes to prepare the facility for students. Adler, who is also the school’s contractor, said that the ‘build-out,’ or work that needs to be done on the new site, is ‘not going to be that big of a deal’ compared to the extensive job they did on the Alma Real space. ‘The [new] building is zoned for a school, subject to getting a conditional use permit,’ Adler said. ‘There are no residential neighbors we impact and there’s plenty of parking.’ Renaissance currently has 14 full-time teachers and plans to add about six more. The school hopes to slightly increase its enrollment to 350 to 400 students in grades 9 through 12 this fall. ‘The interesting part about this whole adventure is that I’ve had people coming up to me all the time’tenants in the [Alma Real] building and the community’saying ‘I hate to see you go,” McGlothlin said. ‘I know the local vendors are going to miss us, or at least anyone in the Palisades who sells a reasonably priced lunch. It’s a bittersweet time. I think there was an opportunity lost here, and not for us.’ Renaissance Academy is holding two upcoming town hall meetings for prospective parents and students. The first one will be next Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m. in the school’s terrace-level gallery at 881 Alma Real, and the second one will be held June 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library, 861 Alma Real.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
