Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Private school opening

Sounds legal to me. California law is quite protective of former employees who go into competition with their previous employers. Here, you are further benefitted by the fact that the former employer appears to have given up.

Further, I think contacting former enrolled families directly would probably be legal. Using a former employer's trade-secret customer list is illegal, but here the customer list is not secret; all the teachers and families would have known the enrollees and it's very doubtful the former operator has any basis for calling the list of families a secret.

Note, however, that I say "probably" - I cannot give you carte-blanche assurance without having reviewed all the particulars.