(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A school district in California is trying to get rid of a private Christian school by presenting concerns about the safety of the building that the school officials find baseless.
The Ventura Unified School District, which is located northwest of Los Angeles, demanded Ventura County Christian School leave the school territory, claiming that one of the school’s buildings is not structurally safe for the students, according to the Daily Wire.
On Aug. 19, the district told the school that the lease for the property is not going to be renewed. The principal of the Christian school, Perry Geue, disagreed with the district’s decision.
“We just do not agree that the classroom is unsafe,” he said. “We feel that other intentions are at play.”
Because of that, on Aug. 29, the school defied the district and opened its door to students. The district responded by sending a three-day notice to the school to leave the premises.
For more than two decades, the school has leased the buildings from the district, but the lease expired in June, which led the district to decide to do a safety analysis before agreeing to again lease the building to the Christian school.
In September 2021, the district found that the school was safe for occupancy. During negotiations for the new lease, the school officials noticed that the district included a “Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity” clause in the new lease, which raised some concerns.
“We could potentially be forced to hire teachers who don’t hold to a Christian worldview,” the principal said.
The school asked the district to delete the clause and three days before the start of the school year, the district told VCCS that the building was not safe anymore, according to the new June safety report, and that the lease was not going to be renewed.
The district lied. According to the Daily Wire, the June safety report suggested having a closer inspection and installation of more supports and bracing, instead of leaving the school building altogether.
Ron Bamieh, the school’s lawyer, said that the district’s safety claims do not have an actual foundation underneath them and said that there are other motivations.
“VUSD 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,” Bamieh told the Daily Wire.
“[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.”
