Go Portola Statement on Charter School Application

Update: The WCCUSD Board voted last night to deny the Summit charter petition on the grounds that Summit would be unlikely to achieve the heterogeneity targets stated in the application. The Board cited insufficient demonstration of outreach to a large part of the stated target audience, insufficient evidence Summit would be successful in recruiting the target audience, and an absence of a transportation plan for the wide geographic area cited in the recruitment plan. Though the staff was recommending approval pending Summit agreement on items contained in a memorandum of understanding – items that would have strengthened confidence in Summit’s ability to achieve the heterogeneity – official Summit representatives repeatedly asked the Board during public comment to provide unconditional approval. This, the Board said, was further evidence that Summit was not prepared to deliver the heterogeneity they propose in the petition.

Summit can now bring the same petition before the Trustees of the Contra Costa County Office of Education (http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/), who can authorize the charter to operate at the former Windrush site – essentially overruling the WCCUSD Board. We will provide more details about the timeline and the process as we learn them.

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The following statement was originally posted on the GoPortola website.  This, and the associated comment thread, can be found at http://goportola.org/2013/08/03/go-portola-statement-on-charter-school-application/

As a parent group whose mission is to share information and foster long-term community engagement with Portola Middle School, we have been following with interest the application of Summit Charter School to operate a 7-12 grade charter school at the former Windrush site in El Cerrito. Charter schools are privately managed by the charter company and its board of directors. They are publicly funded and receive per-pupil dollars from the school district. We have sought further information about the charter application as tax-payers and as WCCUSD families who invest heavily in the quality of public education in the District.

Though there are some examples of successful charters in our region, we have a two-fold concern with this proposal:

1. That the school’s existence within a short radius of Portola Middle School and El Cerrito High School would inadvertently siphon off engaged families whose energy is crucial in building up these schools; and
2. that it would lead to unfair competition between the new charter and its public school neighbors, whose challenges will always be greater and resources fewer. It is because of these potential impacts that we seek further clarification about Summit Charter School’s application to operate at 1800 Elm Street.

In a scenario where engaged families start defecting to the new charter school, innovative programs such as the new Universal Design for Learning approach, the Scholar-In-Residence, and the Spanish Dual Immersion — which are still in their infancy at Portola — could be easily endangered. Even well-established and beloved programs, such as the Band and the Math Club, which rely heavily on funding support from the community, could flounder with decreased enrollment.

We recently met independently with Julie Wright of the Chamberlin Family Foundation (CFF) and Kelly Garcia of the Summit Group to voice our concerns. Their response to many of our questions was an appeal to visit their Redwood City campus to see for ourselves how different and positive their educational model is. Nonetheless, even allowing full confidence in Summit’s educational model, the school would only be available to a small percentage of students in the southern part of WCCUSD. We appreciate the expressed sincerity of both organizations in wanting to be part of the solution for our large and challenging District; however, as far as concrete data or accountable mechanisms for communication, operation, and collaboration are lacking in the charter proposal, we remain apprehensive about the proposed school’s impact on our district, and in particular Portola and ECHS.

We feel the following aspects of the proposal need more clarification:

1. Physical Space. We would like an explanation of what zoning laws and education code sections apply to charters schools. Are they more lenient than rules governing facilities for traditional public schools? At a proposed 677 secondary students on a 4-acre site, there is less than one acre of area per 150 students. This is well below State Code recommendation for a public secondary school of this size. Further, we would like to understand how a proposed 677 students will have ample classroom space in a building that schooled several hundred fewer (and younger) children during the Windrush years.

We would like to be regularly updated on the status of traffic studies and the EIR. Located on a narrow intersection, the school’s existence would potentially result in traffic and parking congestion in the Del Norte neighborhood.

2. Recruitment and Student Diversity. We would like Summit to address student diversity in a transparent manner by creating a site-specific oversight committee to include a representative from the school board and one community representative not affiliated with Summit charter school. We understand from the Chamberlin/Summit group that the proposal is intentionally vague and based on boilerplate language so as to allow them flexibility in adjusting their approach as needed, even with regard to key areas of recruitment and facility use. This, however, leaves the public with no concrete assurances that Summit will be committed to meet their stated goal of attracting a heterogeneous population comprising mainly of the neediest students in the District, including those with disabilities and English language learners.

Summit proposes to recruit from a vast area served by 23 different WCCUSD elementary schools — from Hilltop Mall to Kensington, from Point Richmond and Point Isabel to San Pablo Dam Road. We would like an evidence-based explanation of why diversity is best achieved by placing a school away from disadvantaged students who need services. The verbal response we received indicated that in their experience, such school placement was more likely to achieve diversity goals, but no concrete data on which to evaluate this claim was offered. This decision will impact our community and should be made based on the best available information.

3. Transportation. We would like a transportation plan in writing, even if it must be general in nature. Without assurances of safe transportation, it is hard to imagine how Summit School could attract or adequately serve students from in neighborhoods such as Crescent Park, the Iron Triangle, and North Richmond.

4. Definition of Founding Families. We would like language including “community leaders” in the definition of “founding families” and “founding members” to be removed from the application. If this is not possible after submission of the application, we would like the actual detailed admission process and practices occurring outside the lottery to be submitted to the community in writing.

Our existing Portola Middle School is by any standards a small, heterogeneous, school. In the past three years, Portola has inarguably been improving because of greater investment, innovation, strong leadership, and increased community commitment. These improvements are available to ALL students, not just a 120 per grade.

Less than 1/2 mile away, Summit seeks WCCUSD funds to start a small, heterogeneous middle- and high-school utilizing all of the structural advantages allowed for California charters for personnel, facilities, finances, and admissions. Therefore, it is fair to expect Summit to provide details about how it will attract and support students from their wide recruitment area, rather than the most engaged families who would otherwise attend Portola and ECHS, existing charter schools, or private schools in the immediate area.

In conclusion, we understand that the leniency built in to California charter law does not require any more detail than was in the application to the school board. However, if Summit and CFF believe that this school is the best fit for El Cerrito and the south end of WCCUSD, then in order to signal a collaborative partnership, we expect Summit and CFF to demonstrate that they understand our community’s unique qualities and are not just taking a template approach. We ask that that they put their concrete, measurable actions, in writing, on letterhead, to demonstrate the good faith that has been verbally proffered.