Lynn Rodriguez and Patty Moore: When Is a School Not a School?

Students at Mission Community School deserve same rights and protections as other citizens

By Lynn Rodriguez and Patty Moore | Published on 11.12.2009

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In a bizarre twist in the increasing saga around the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries throughout our city, proponents of more marijuana dispensaries recently found themselves pitted against parents and advocates of young students with special needs.

Lynn Rodriguez
Lynn Rodriguez

Although the city of Santa Barbara has adopted an ordinance that prohibits the placement of medical marijuana dispensaries within 500 feet of a school, city staff recently approved a permit to open a dispensary near the corner of Mission and State streets, which is less than 500 feet from a transition high school serving students with developmental disabilities. When the permit was issued, staff was not aware of the existence of Mission Community School — located across the street from the proposed dispensary — because it is in a commercial building and doesn’t have the same appearance as most other local schools. The school is run by the Santa Barbara County Office of Education and serves minors (under 18) and young adults (18-21).

Patty Moore
Patty Moore

Last week, after city staff became aware of the school, it recommended that the Planning Commission act to revoke the permit on the grounds that it violated the city’s existing ordinance regulating dispensaries. Following some debate about whether the transition school fits the definition of a “special school” under the ordinance, and after hearing dozens of people speak on both sides of the issue, the commission voted to revoke the permit. Now, in yet another twist, one of the commissioners would like that decision to be reconsidered.

The only basis for a reversal of the earlier vote would be to find that Mission Community School is not a school under the ordinance, a finding that would turn logic on its head and be contrary to the opinion of the city attorney. Mission Community School provides a high school course of instruction with state-credentialed teachers, as well as life skills training for students aged 16 and above, in accordance with the requirements of the California Education Code. State law provides for high school transition programs like those offered by the County Education Office and the Santa Barbara School District to serve students with developmental delays who need more time to mature and achieve independence.

The state education code requires the County Education Office and the Santa Barbara School District to serve qualifying special-education students in need of additional support through age 21. The fact that there happen to be more students at Mission Community School who are age 18-20 than there are age 16-17 is no basis for finding that this school should be treated differently under the ordinance from any other K-12 school in the city. Mission Community School cannot be compared to a community college or other adult school program that serves an entirely different, more mature population.

As parents of children with developmental disabilities, we want to urge that the rights of students being served by transition school programs, are given the same legal protection for a safe environment as all other students.

The transition programs serving young people with developmental disabilities provide them with the opportunity to be included and accepted in the community. While each student has his or her individual transition plan, the goals for most students include increasing independence in mobility, life skills, safety, and making good choices. Mission Community School is one of only two local transition programs serving students in our community.

Our goal as parents of students with special challenges is not to suppress the rights of individuals in the community with regard to medical marijuana dispensaries. We simply want to shed light on the rights of students with special needs, as defined in law, and to share a little what these rights and services mean to these students, their families, and the community.

Parents with children who have developmental disabilities have hopes and dreams for our children, just like everyone else, and expect that they will travel through the community on their own, walking and taking public transportation. They can be employed, have friends and live at least semi-independently. To accomplish this, they need training, educational support, and a community that is willing to accept and welcome each as one of its productive citizens.

Mission Community School, and others like it, is the ticket for our children to participate fully in society. Their rights as a student deserve the same consideration as students attending other K-12 school facilities. We hope the city will provide the same protections to students in these special state-mandated programs, as described in the ordinance, as it does for any other K-12 school in the community. We also hope that the rights of our students with special needs are afforded the same compassion and opportunity as people using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

— Lynn Rodriguez is a member of the Alpha Resource Center board of directors, a former Santa Barbara School Board member and mother of a 15-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, who currently attends San Marcos High School. She is a potential future student at Mission Community School. Patty Moore is the parent of three sons, the youngest of whom, age 23, was born with Down syndrome. She is also the manager of Children, Family & Advocacy Services at Alpha Resource Center of Santa Barbara, where she has worked closely, for the past 19 years, with parents of children with special needs in our community and with our local schools.

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» Bud Green on 11.13.09 @ 09:10 AM

RE: Non-traditional schools; What if a new pot shop wants to open, follows all the rules like this last guy did, and then someone says they home-school their kids nearby? Would this scenario classify as a school?

Also, I find it interesting how the students of Mission Community need to be “protected” from someone buying pot across the street, and yet there is no mention or concern for the fact there is gun shop in this same vicinity-where someone can buy a weapon of murder, load it, and fire away. I guess loading a bong is of greater concern.

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» Candyce Estave on 11.13.09 @ 09:54 AM

Children with disabilities deserve the same consideration that typical kids have. Equal rights for all people, including those with disabilities. This is a school, public or private, that is a part of the community… seems like a no-brainer to me.
Candyce

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» Marty Blum on 11.13.09 @ 10:27 AM

Thanks to the authors for their advocacy for our youth.  On Tuesday, Nov. 17th at about 6:30 pm, the City Council will be talking about marijuana dispensaries. The issue is how to get marijuana to patients that are deemed by doctors to need marijuana without getting it into the hands of youth.

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» J. Craig Canada on 11.13.09 @ 10:28 AM

Children with disabilities are medical marijuana patients too.  Do they have a right to choose medical marijuana over Prozac, Paxil, Adderall, or Haldol?

This isn’t about protecting anybody.  It’s about prejudice and intolerance and Pfizer and Merck profits.

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» 35forever on 11.13.09 @ 10:56 AM

Is there a reason why this can’t be sold in pharmacies like other prescription drugs? Grow it on federal land legally, make a giant profit like drug companies and get your prescrition filled at he drugstore.
I don’t get all this debating about something that could easily be regulated. Of course, it means admitting that many people use pot, but we already knew that.
It would stop the cartels from growing it on federal land without permission and remove the criminality.

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» Really? on 11.13.09 @ 11:34 AM

Is there really a gun shop in the same vicinity? Have the parents protested that, too?  If not, than this huff puff about the dispensary is a load of crap.

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» Bob Marley on 11.13.09 @ 12:30 PM

“The more people smoke herb, the more Babylon fall.”

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» N.Gold on 11.13.09 @ 12:44 PM

Good point Bud…...let’s get the gun shop closed. If you know about this gun shop being so close to that school or any school,why don’t you do something about it?

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» Loretta Lopez on 11.13.09 @ 12:56 PM

That comment about the gun shop made me think…well… why wasn’t a stink made about its proximity to the school?
And what about the tattoo shop? Is it a general given that ‘pot’ is easier for a younger person to procure than a gun or tattoo? And is the lack of proximity that much of a deterent, if exposure to pot or its procurement, be the concern?
I remember when I was very young and living on the eastside of SB, the older females of my family would tell me, “Don’t look in there!” as we walked passed the open door of the Mecca on Milpas St. “It’s not a place for young ladies to see or be in!” At home, however, my father always had a six-pack of Coors in the fridge, tequila in the cupboard, adult movies in the closet, Playboys under his bed, and empty cigar boxes in the trash. My mother neither drank nor smoked, and would re-enforce that these behaviors were not for children.  She was my role model, for better or for worse.
Forty-five+ years later, I still ignore the liquor isle when I go grocery shopping, and I have to remind myself that I can buy alcohol, if I want.
And, I don’t smoke.
Any tolerant, law-biding society begins at home. Children can be taught to acknowledge that in life there are situations, places, and people, that are inappropriate for them. 
Parents/guardians/teachers influence children’s perception of the world, through their (parents/guardians/teachers) deeds, words and implicit trust that the child can/will do the ‘right’ thing. Lack of positive, truthful, and consistant guidance can create intolerance, mistrust and fear in a child. 
I understand that recognition and being regarded as equally as any other education facility under our city laws are issues here.  There are instances where the safety of all our children must be addressed with the utmost consideration and diligence, but in this case, I feel that we have more obligation to teach and guide our children to recognize what is inappropriate for them, than trying to hide/remove the uncomfortable existance of a pot dispensary.
—single mother of three since 1986
  teacher’s assistant for three yrs.
  friend to a unipedal-diabetic patient who uses
  medicinal marijuana for his amputation pain.

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» Gil Garcia on 11.13.09 @ 03:14 PM

Agree with the need to provide same protection for all K-12 students and am concerned Mission community special education program does not do this especially since the students are most in need of equal protection. This equal protection is provided when students are taught in a Department of State Architect approved facility. It is not provided in a classroom space in a office building with no playground space on a high traffic street and no review by the State Architect for compliance with earthquake protection standards, Federal Mandated American Disabilities Act requirements, fire Marshall exiting requirement, and hazardous materials abatement. Mission school should be more concerned about the students actual lack of protection and not about an imaginary risk from a heavily regulated dispensary that provides adequate student protection in its city approved operations plan. A socially responsible plan that provides secure, safe and dignified restricted access only to qualified patients of it`s medical needs collective with verified Doctor`s recommendation.

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» Art on 11.13.09 @ 04:08 PM

Maybe a “school is not a school” when nobody knows that it is there. That is apparently the case at hand - the school district never felt the need to keep the city informed as to the location of all facilities that they considered schools under the city’s ordinance in spite of numerous meetings, articles in the media, etc. concerning these dispensaries.

If we need to find fault in all of this it has to be with the school district as they were the only ones that could have done something BEFORE the dispensary was approved.

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» Mary Jane Sativa on 11.13.09 @ 05:56 PM

I agree with Gil Garcia’s comments about the safety of the building structure itself at Mission Community. That is what parents of these students should be more concerned about, not someone buying legal pot from a building across the street.

And what about Bud Green’s observation that someone who home schools their kid can claim their house is a school?

When will the madness end?

LEGALIZE FREEDOM!

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» Truth in advertising on 11.14.09 @ 10:37 AM

Gil Garcia’s criticism of the school is disturbing and self serving. One need only know that he is the paid architect for the proposed dispensary.

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