Check Out Yulin Olliver And Alyssa Cendrowski’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yulin Olliver And Alyssa Cendrowski.

Hi Yulin and Alyssa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Our story starts toward the end of May/early June, when a concerned group of parents came together to fight for justice for Principal Rachelle Garmon of Broadway Elementary School (BES) after she was abruptly removed by Region West leadership without any explanation or warning of what she’d done.

Ms. Garmon, who has spent more than a decade of her career at BES, first as a teacher and then working her way up to principal, is a pillar of our community. In the two years she’s been principal, she was able to launch the first school-wide science fair and Math Kangaroo competitions, hired more teachers, re-opened the school library, and brought on a full-time nurse. She did all this despite having to deal with a UCP complaint filed against her six weeks into her tenure, alleging she discriminated against the Spanish immersion problems. These allegations are false.

When we heard about her removal, parents and teachers were outraged. The teachers sent a letter to the union and have rallied with parents to try and save her job. We protested outside of BES and outside of the school board meetings, spoken at multiple LAUSD school board meetings and demanded answers from LAUSD Region West leadership as to why our beloved and successful principal has been removed. We have received no answers from them — and if anything only been talked down to, patronized and ignored.

Supporters of Principal Garmon also started a petition to reinstate her, which now has more than 1,000 signatures. We’re also calling on LAUSD leaders to adopt a more transparent and equitable decision-making process that includes the voices of students, families and teachers — the very people who make schools successful.

The removal of Principal Garmon also is part of a disturbing pattern we’re seeing in Region West. Other Black female principals at Playa Vista, Baldwin Hills and Prescott.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
See the previous answers but several challenges include:

– LAUSD citing a personnel issue as the reason they can’t give us an explanation for Garmon’s removal. There’s a huge difference between divulging private information and providing transparency as to why Garmon was removed.
– Parents, teachers and concerned community members have written hundreds of emails to Region West leadership and the LAUSD School Board asking for Garmon to be reinstated. That hasn’t happened yet.
– Parents have spent countless hours at school board meetings, talking to the media and preparing chronological timelines and organizing materials to try and make the case that Garmon should be reinstated.
– There’s also been tension between the MI and SI programs at Broadway over the issues, with some SI parents wanting to support Garmon but being scared to do so because of bullying from other SI parents who want her gone. There is deep division that’s been created.
– As of mid-July, we still haven’t heard anything about if Garmon will be reinstated NOR a word from Region West about who the new principal may be. They promised us in a town hall meeting in early June that the process would be transparent and involve parents and teachers but so far, we’ve not heard a peep. Yet another lie to add to the pile from LAUSD.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Not sure if this is relevant for our story, but plenty of parents are using their skills to help fight for justice:

I’m a strategic communications consultant and former journalist, so I’ve been trying to help spread the word about what’s going on and contacting media who may be interested in this story, along with Yulin Olliver, Bernice Chao, Rungthip Choensookasem and Jackie Heffernan.

Belinda Ma and Michelle Chen, two dedicated parents with law degrees, along with Paige Chen have been trying to see what legal maneuvers we may be able to take to save Garmon.

Matt Roethle, a CPA and former teacher, who has helped organize school board meeting discussions and kept the parents up to date with any developments.

Deanna Wu, a longtime Broadway parent, who provides a vast knowledge of history and has spoken with Region West leadership for years.

There are many, many more parents involved, but these are a few.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
N/A for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saveourprincipal.com/

Image Credits
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xtkh49kbt6n2h52e5xvzw/AAhmQRkCjvKIDuTeDI7-EQY?rlkey=aptzkq0rglsgtk2znef32de5v&st=7ra4hpv8&dl=0

Please see all our photos and videos uploaded here.