Odyssey Charter School founder Constance Ortiz, along with Principal Mike Davis held a staff meeting 2 weeks ago to discuss the articles we have published. Ortiz wanted the staff to ask questions about us personally, however after asking for questions several times, staff had none…about us anyway. They did have questions about an apparent issue they’ve brought up many times before. Safety.
“It’s a death trap!” Listen to internal staff meeting. Teachers warn Odyssey Charter isn’t safe
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The comments during the meeting are consistent with the numerous emails from current and former staff at Odyssey we have received. One thing parents stated they were promised were small classrooms with between 15 to 20 students each. According to staff members you hear in this article and elsewhere, classes are reaching 40 students per class.
But the major issue is not in the classrooms, but in the hallways between classes. As Ortiz admits herself, the 2 hallways in the building are flawed in design, being too narrow. With hundreds of students navigating the halls, it’s an absolute nightmare. “If there’s an emergency, someone is going to get seriously hurt of even die,” one teacher told us.
“You cannot move, it’s a death trap.”
Odyssey has a policy that students can only travel in one direction in the halls, even if your class is right next door to your left, you must travel all the way around the campus to go to that class. If students are late because of this, they often still get detention or some form of discipline.
We have submitted a public records request for the building plans of Odyssey as well as the life safety plan, to see if they have exceeded the capacity of the engineering. We suspect that they have based off of the comments, and the fact that Odyssey brags about its increasing student population year after year, which also means more money for them and Green Apple Management which Constance also owns.
Mike Davis says next year one solution he has come up with is to allow the students to travel OUTSIDE the buildings to go to classes. “That’s insane,” one teacher told us. “We have no way of knowing who is coming in and out of the doors, and literally anyone could walk in with the students in a hoody. It’s not safe, and I don’t feel safe at all in these times.”