School board votes no on charter school
District officials say application raises questions
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Parents said they'll continue to fight for a new charter school in Camarillo even though the Pleasant Valley school board voted 4-0 on May 17 to reject their bid to create the school.

"We're moving on," said Chris Parker, one of the parents from Los Senderos Open School who is leading the charter school movement.

The board unanimously rejected the application by a group of about 30 parents to open the Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education.

Board President Ron Speakman abstained from the board's vote because of a conflict of interest; Speakman is related to an administrator at Los Senderos.

"It needs more work," said Trustee Patty Lerner. Other trustees said the petition would have been more thorough if the applicants had more time.

The group submitted the charter application to the district at a March meeting, immediately following the board's decision to close kindergarten-through-seventh-grade Los Senderos.

The district has said it will convert an elementary school into a magnet school using an open school philosophy, but Los Senderos parents are skeptical.

Parents said the district is offering no guarantee that their specific open program will remain intact at the new school.

They said they're also worried the new school proposed by the board won't have middle school grades.

The group of parents decided earlier this year to launch a charter school that would ensure Los Senderos' 30-year open-school philosophy will continue.

The trustees based their decision at last week's meeting on a 25-page document from district staff on the merits of the charter school application.

Noted among the deficiencies in the application, the report stated that the charter school would not offer students a sound educational program, would face budgetary problems and that the application did not have enough signatures from permanent teachers.

The report stated that the application does not give enough information about student assessment and goals and how the charter school would serve such groups as English language learners, special needs and high-achieving students.

District officials said in their report that the application fails to define specific teacher development programs, safety drills, student health screenings or nutrition programs, and it's unclear how the charter school would assess students' grasp of the curriculum.

In addition, the district said the school's budget falls short in several areas- miscalculating the school's annual budget by nearly $150,000.

District officials also said the school should have a larger reserve account on hand- $3,800 more than what's included in the budget submitted by the charter group.

The report stated that the eight Los Senderos teachers who signed the petition were not enough. At least 12, or onehalf of the permanent teachers at the school, are needed to meet this legal requirement, according to Barbara Davis, interim superintendent.

Lisa Corr, a Sacramento attorney hired by the charter school group, agreed that organizers could have prepared a more detailed application if they had more time.

But the fact that the Los Senderos program has been a success for three decades and would be replicated at the charter school speaks louder than any application, she said.

There is "no correlation between a document and a successful school," Corr said. "I don't see how the school cannot continue with its success."

Corr told the board that the group may file a lawsuit.

Please see page 22 for related story on charter schools.