Frustrated Los Senderos parents want charter school
Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education may open in fall
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

HARPER SMITH/Acorn Newspapers NEW MOVEMENT- During an informational meeting at Camarillo United Methodist Church earlier this month, Camarillo resident Rona Koe steps to the microphone to talk about the charter education system and give more information about enrolling children at Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education, also known as CAPE.

Parents dissatisfied with the Pleasant Valley school board's decision last month to interrupt an alternative kindergartenthrougheighthgrade program said they intend to open a charter school in the fall.

The school board voted on March 29 to close Los Senderos Open School, moving Los Primeros Structured School to its site, and to turn Rancho Rosal Elementary into a magnet school using the open philosophy.

About 30 Los Senderos parents launched the effort to start a charter school earlier this year when an advisory committee began discussing school closure scenarios and Los Senderos appeared in most of them.

District officials have said that closing schools is necessary to raise $1.5 million to pay for more educational programs for students and an 8 percent raise for teachers. Salaries must be raised and benefit packages improved so the district can attract and retain talented teachers, officials have said.

The parents filed a charter school application with the district during the March 29 school board meeting, immediately following the board's decision to close the school.

The parents plan to open Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education in the fall, and held two public information meetings recently to explain why. The most recent was held at a church on April 3.

"The fact of the matter is they're not transferring our program; they're closing our program," Chris Parker, chair of the Los Senderos steering committee, told a crowd of about 150 last week.

Parker said that more than 250 parents have indicated they plan to enroll their children in the charter school.

Although the district has guaranteed space for all kindergartenthrough-fourth-grade Los Senderos students at Rancho Rosal, the displaced sixth, seventh and eighthgrade students would have to attend neighborhood middle schools, which many Los Senderos parents disapprove of.

The organized parents also said they're unhappy that the district is not guaranteeing that any teachers or administrators experienced in the open philosophy will be assigned to Rancho Rosal and are not convinced that the same teaching philosophy will be continued there.

"The administration didn't seem to embrace the open philosophy," said Doreen Learned, president of the Los Senderos parent teacher organization, regarding a recent meeting she and other parents had with Rancho Rosal administrators.

In using the open philosophy, teachers adapt their techniques to students' learning styles rather than offering rewards or encouraging competition.

The board is expected to hold a public hearing April 19 on the application and should decide whether to approve it soon thereafter.

Trustee Sandra Berg said she has yet to see or read the charter school petition.

"I'm going to wait; I'm going to see it; I'm going to hear staff's report and from the petitioners and go from there," Berg said.

Joe Mendoza, director of educational support at the Ventura County Office of Education, said a district can reject a charter school application if it doesn't meet 16 legal elements or conform to district policy.

If the district rejects the application, the petitioners can appeal to the office of education. If turned away at the county level, petitioners can appeal to the state board of education.

Mendoza said that by the time an appeal reaches the county or even state level, errors in the application have been corrected and it's typically granted.

"It's very unusual that a charter is rejected," Mendoza said.