The Morgan Hill Unified School District is still deciding whether to accept Navigator Schools’ petition to open a new charter school in the city for 2014-15, and has instead requested a 30-day extension of the mandatory June 15 deadline to vote.
James Dent, co-founder of Navigator Schools – a grassroots charter management organization which so far includes Gilroy Prep School, the soon-to-open Hollister Prep in 2013 and potentially seven more down the road in other cities – wants the Board to vote on the petition at its scheduled June 11 meeting.
MHUSD, however, requested to postpone the vote – something that must be agreed by both parties according to the state education code.
Dent informed the district he will not agree to the postponement.
The June 11 Board of Education agenda, released today by MHUSD, has not agendized the vote.
“I’m still kind of holding out hope that one of the board members will bring the agenda item back,” said Dent.
MHUSD Superintendent Wes Smith, explaining why the vote has not been agendized, cited “multiple errors and omissions” in the charter’s petition. Smith wants Navigator Schools to make the necessary corrections and resubmit their application, which would re-start the clock and give MHUSD another 60 days to review the petition.
Smith said he immediately contacted Dent about the “omission of certain policies and budget information necessary to appropriately evaluate the petition” and has tried to work with Navigator Schools on making the necessary corrections.
“We made Mr. Dent aware of these and other concerns and asked him if he would like to re-submit a corrected, more accurate petition,” Smith explained. “He declined and, instead, said they would submit amendments to the petition.”
Failure to comply with the No Child Left Behind legislation; the inclusion of a “family contract;” and having the wrong year for the opening of the school were among the errors the district identified.
Dent underlined Navigator Schools’ current relationship with MHUSD as “strained” but hopes the issue will become “water under the bridge” and that the charter management organization can continue to have “good faith” negotiations with district staff.
“As far as I’m concerned, a non-vote is a vote against,” Dent resolved.
“We were expecting it to be on the agenda,” added Gilroy Prep co-founder Sharon Waller, “and I think we are disappointed.”
Smith detailed the original petition as having the wrong starting year on it – incorrectly putting “August 2013” instead of the 2014. Another was “a mistake related to the explanation of the Individual Education Plan process,” something Smith said Dent openly admitted to having in the petition.
District staff is also concerned about the inclusion of a “family contract” that demands “a commitment to volunteering 20 hours of time each year to the school and requires attendance at a number of school activities.”
“Petitioners cannot deny a child enrollment based on a parent’s refusal or inability to perform volunteer service at the school or to attend school events,” Smith said. “If we were to consider the original petition with its errors and technical inaccuracies, staff would have no option but to recommend the board deny the petition.”
The public comment portion of every school board meeting does allow members of the public to address the Board regarding items not on the agenda. Dent also pointed out the charter’s petition “can be amended at any time.”
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Dent, who is principal of Gilroy Prep, wants the vote to take place sooner rather than later because opening a charter school by fall of 2014 is already a “long process” in itself. Also, if MHUSD trustees do not approve the petition, Navigator Schools must start the appeal proceedings with the Santa Clara County Board of Education, which historically speaking has approved 38 of 44 charter petitions brought before them since 2004.
“Our charter was approved by two different districts (in Gilroy and Hollister),” Dent said. “We know it’s a solid petition and that it would hold up on appeal.”
Meanwhile, Board President Don Moody said his mind is made up, but declined to reveal which way he’ll vote on the petition.
“I don’t know how much more time I need,” Moody said. “But there’s other board members that may need more time.”
Navigator Schools leaders officially submitted their charter petition to the Board at the April 16 Board of Education meeting. The district held a mandatory public hearing May 14, which started the 30-day deadline for a vote that is just a little more than a week away. The district, which must make its recommendation to the Board before the vote, could opt to hold a special meeting for a vote by June 15. In that case, a 24-hour notice is warranted.
Reports have also surfaced that MHUSD could be the target of Rocketship Education, which has opened charters throughout the Bay Area such as Mateo Sheedy Elementary in San Jose. Director of Community Development Jessica Garcia-Kohl for Rocketship Education would not deny reports that the organization had its sights set on Morgan Hill.
SCCOE Chief Strategy Officer Toni Cordova says the county uses the same evaluation criteria as MHUSD for reviewing charter petitions. There are currently eight charters in East Side Union School District: Five in the Franklin-McKinley School District, four in the San Jose Union School District and two in the Alum Rock Union School District as well as one in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, Cordova confirmed.
If MHUSD denies Navigator Schools’ petition, the charter has 180 days to appeal to the county, which has 60 days to make its decision. If the county approves the petition, it will be responsible for operational oversight of Morgan Hill Prep instead of MHUSD, which, in accordance with Proposition 39 approved by California voters in 2000, must “provide local charter schools with facilities that are sufficient and reasonably equivalent to other buildings, classrooms or facilities in the district.”
Parent Roberto Auguierrez, who has a third and fifth grader at Paradise Valley Elementary, said the time is now for MHUSD to welcome a second charter school.
The Charter School of Morgan Hill, located at 9530 Monterey Road in the far northwest part of town, opened in 2001 and has since boosted its enrollment to 520 students with yearly lotteries. In 2012, the charter recorded a 902 Academic Performing Index – the state’s yardstick for measuring academic success – second to only Nordstrom Elementary (915).
“I believe that we have to find a solution for Morgan Hill education,” Auguierrez said. “The school district has to approve this charter so we can learn how to do things better. What we’re doing right now is not working.”
MHUSD has been plagued with a low graduation rate – the latest report released by the California Department of Education has the district at 78.4 percent, last among 12 districts in the county. MHUSD also has the second highest dropout rate in the county at 17 percent. In addition, the California Department of Education similar schools report card gave the lowest possible ranking to six MHUSD schools.
Board trustee Claudia Rossi said there are still unresolved issues, such as instructional methods and transportation for students with special needs, that the charter has yet to adequately address. Otherwise, Rossi said she would be inclined to vote for the petition since it offers another choice for parents.
“This one is one of my toughest votes,” she said. “I’d rather do it right than do it fast.”
Rossi said the district is trying to work things out with Dent and “these are issues that are very serious.”
Board trustee Rick Badillo said he supports anything that creates more educational opportunities for students, but stopped short of confirming which way he would vote on the charter petition.
“I’m all for bettering our schools one way or another,” he said. “I support any changes that would help close the achievement gap as well as support our accelerated learners.”
Spreading successful learning models and closing the achievement gap – defined as the disparity in educational performance between students of varying socioeconomic statuses – is a primary goal outlined by Navigator Schools leaders. And they’re not off to a bad start: In its first year of operation, GPS broke the 970 API barrier – the state’s benchmark for this score is 800 – and is also the highest-performing first-year charter out of 500 in the state of California since 2006.
“(Forming Morgan Hill Prep) is a great opportunity for us to go in there to not just help the small percentage of students in our schools, but, hopefully, have a positive impact across district,” Dent explained. “There’s no excuse for students failing. We have to keep trying new things.”
Board trustee Amy Porter Jensen, who would not divulge how she will vote, believes Navigator Schools’ “overall vision (of narrowing the achievement gap) is one that most people share.”
She called for “collaboration” between the staffs at Navigator Schools and MHUSD to make “both sides be successful in a way that will allow us to continue to move forward and reach all students and their needs.”
Whatever it takes, a large group of Morgan Hill parents, organized by People Acting in the Community Together, or PACT, want to be the next city Navigator Schools makes port in. In recent months, trustees have heard repeated pleas from local parents advocating for better educational opportunities for their children.
“It needs to happen. It will be very sad if the Morgan Hill school board does not approve this charter,” said Auguierrez, a PACT parent leader. “At the end of the day, it’s going to benefit the kids of Morgan Hill.”
