“Meet with us directly and work with us to build bridges of communication,” she said. Gil called it “deeply troubling” that district officials are now “only communicating through legal notices prepared by outside attorneys.” “In addition, we supported documentation for each and every cure and we welcomed followup conversation.” “We took every one of your concerns very seriously and we provided a clear and detailed explanation for each one of them,” she told the board. Marie Issa Gil, Bay Area Rocketship’s regional director, countered that the charter school, in its 1,000-page response on April 1, addresses all the district’s concerns. “That is a huge disparity from the budget documents that were submitted with the petition when the charter was approved.” “I cannot in good conscience ask parents to wait.“When the charter school submitted its March 15 second interim report to the district, it was deeply alarming to the administration that the report itself projected a deficit of more than $500,000 in the second year out,” Holbrook said. “We are at a crossroads here, and we have a chance to take the road that will change everything,” said trustee Julia Hover-Smoot. In the end, the board heeded parents’ pleas. Under a district charter, resident students - regardless of family income - have priority over students residing in other districts. Rocketship officials have argued that running schools chartered by local districts, rather than by the County Office of Education, could shut out some targeted students: low-income, low-performing students throughout the county. Los Altos schools trustee Tamara Logan likened the county board’s approval of Rocketship charters to generals placing soldiers in people’s homes, appropriating their food and money without permission. In contrast, Leslie Reynolds, a San Jose Unified trustee, said, “We are not clear what the big rush is.” She and other trustees of local school districts forcefully opposed the petitions, in part for bypassing their boards and going directly to the county board. “Our students do not have time for the public education system to improve,” said another Discovery Prep parent, Donna Ikebe. Her fourth-grade son transferred to Rocketship Discovery Prep just this year, and in three months, he’s already gained more than a year in reading levels, she said. “I am very sad to see the low level of education my children got,” said Maria Gomez, a resident of the Mount Pleasant School District. Parents spoke about how their children’s academic performance suffered at local district schools. “Thousands are depending on your courageous vote,” read one. In Santa Clara County, 97 schools serving 40,000 students perform below the state’s goal of 800 on the 200-to-999 point Academic Performance Index.Īs in past meetings, Rocketship bused in parents and children to attend, with many waving signs of support. Rocketship maintains that it is responding to tremendous demand from parents currently poorly served by local school districts. Already, Rocketship runs five charter schools in San Jose, with three or four more slated to open in August. The county board’s approval will bump up the number of children served by Rocketship Education to more than 14,000 students, a size equal to some of the largest school districts in Santa Clara County. On two petitions for schools to be located within San Jose Unified, board President Joseph Di Salvo joined the dissenters. Chang said he preferred Rocketship to seek charters from local districts. Song chided Rocketship as untrustworthy, for claiming to be a school district in order to skirt local planning ordinances in building its schools, and for holding board meetings in places not easily accessible by the public. The board voted 5-2 on most of Rocketship’s petitions, with trustees Anna Song and Michael Chang dissenting. Rocketship’s 20 new countywide charter schools - to be phased in from 2013 to 2016 - would be located within the Alum Rock, Franklin-McKinley, Evergreen, Campbell elementary, Oak Grove, Mount Pleasant, San Jose Unified and Santa Clara Unified school districts. “Districts are ready to work with charters and you are trying to stop that,” said Pam Parker, president of the Santa Clara County School Boards Association. But representatives of about a dozen local school districts argue that they, and not the county school board, should be the ones weighing the charter applications.
1 Comment
8/4/2023 06:54:15 am
Excellent article on charter schools! The information provided was comprehensive and well-researched. It's enlightening to see the positive impact of charter schools on education. Thank you for shedding light on this important topic
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