Education foundation gives $17,000 to Camarillo schools
Critics unhappy CAPE programs were awarded money
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

IT'S FOR THE STUDENTS- Teachers from the Pleasant Valley School District accept an $8,436 check last month from the Pleasant Valley Education Foundation on behalf of the school district. The teachers will use the grant money to fund various arts and technology projects they developed for their students. In total, the foundation gave out over $17,000 in grants to Camarillo public schools.

The Pleasant Valley Education Foundation recently awarded $17,711 in grants for arts and technology programs at a number of Camarillo schools.

The nonprofit foundation came under fire, however, by critics frustrated by its recent decision to change its bylaws to allow the foundation to give funds to any of Camarillo's public schools, including the Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education, the newly opened charter school.

Foundation board members said that because charter schools are still public schools, CAPE programs should be eligible for grant money.

Last June, the Oxnard Union High School District voted to grant CAPE a charter despite the fact the Pleasant Valley School Board voted a month earlier to reject the school's charter application. The Pleasant Valley School Board authorized charters for both University Charter Middle School in 2006 and University Preparation School at CSU Channel Islands in 2002.

The Pleasant Valley and Oxnard Union High school districts are in a legal battle over which district will educate Camarillo and Somis high school students. The California State Board of Education is expected to hear arguments from both sides in March.

Sandra Berg, a trustee with the Pleasant Valley School District, has argued at past board meetings that "seed money" from developers used to bolster the foundation several years ago is meant exclusively for Pleasant Valley schools and not intended for CAPE, an independent school district.

When contacted earlier this week, Berg declined to comment, however.

Some parents with children in Pleasant Valley schools criticized the foundation's decision to fund programs at CAPE, a decision, some said, was sparked by the fact many of the foundation's board members have children who attend the public charter school.

"I think they crossed the ethical boundary," said a mother whose children attend Pleasant Valley schools. She asked not to be identified.

Five of the 14 foundation board members have children who attend CAPE, a foundation official said.

Darren Patnoe, foundation treasurer, said the money that revived the foundation about seven years ago has already been spent and the decision to change the bylaw to include all public schools, including CAPE, simply makes clear what the foundation has always done, support public schools.

"I think the education foundation has the right to decide where the money goes," Patnoe said. "It's not PVSD's money."

Patnoe said some of the same children who performed in CineMagic, the foundation's signature program, the past few years would feel penalized if the foundation excluded them because they now attended a charter school.

"Are we going to tell charter school kids they weren't going to be in it?" Patnoe said. "I don't think so."

Foundation President Cami Pinsak said the nonprofit tries to be as fair as possible in distributing grant money. As proof, Pinsak said last school year Los Senderos Open School did not receive any foundation money even though some board members had children at the school.

The Pleasant Valley School District closed Los Senderos Open School in June and many of the school's dissatisfied parents spearheaded the effort to open CAPE last fall.

Pinsak's two children attend CAPE.

Because the judges don't know the name of the teacher or school when awarding a grant, foundation officials said the money is fairly distributed, based on the program's merits and not on the school.

"The integrity of the program is of the highest level, I believe," Pinsak said. "We're not political. We're just here to give the kids money … Any controversy is purely one-sided."