Waiting for Superman?

An Open Letter to The Chamberlin Family Foundation, Summit Public Schools and The West Contra Costa County Unified School District Board of Education:

Silicon Valley-based Summit Public School has petitioned our school district to open a charter school at the location of a former private school in El Cerrito.  Summit was featured prominently in Waiting for Superman, the documentary on the plight of public schools in the U.S. and held up as a hopeful model for providing superior education to underserved students in poor socio-economic circumstances.  Based on its early success, Summit has attracted the support of wealthy venture capitalists including former gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman and is starting to expand.  In El Cerrito, they are proposing to lease the former Windrush School campus from the Pleasanton-based Chamberlin Family Foundation, a philanthropic foundation with a stated mission of supporting K-12 education where inequitable opportunities impede student potential, with particular focus on Richmond.

Well, here comes Superman, and we’re not sure this is exactly what Metropolis had in mind.

Don’t get us wrong – a private company with the resources and capabilities of Summit can be a tremendous asset in improving educational outcomes for our most needy students.  However, Summit’s early missteps and use of a less than transparent process has inspired significant trepidation in many parents, community members and educators involved in West County schools as to Summit’s intentions and the perhaps the unintended negative effects on our existing schools.

Summit’s website claims that its recent expansion is being driven by “overwhelming community demand.”  Did an overwhelming number of West County parents invite Summit to our community?  It’s not obvious this was the case.  Surveys, parent forums, and community meetings in our diverse neighborhoods are all good ways of gauging community interest.  None were conducted as far as we can tell.  WCCUSD just completed and published a draft of its Strategic Plan after many meetings with the public. We can’t see where anyone asked for a charter school.

What we do know is that the majority of parents signing the Summit petition are from a small geographic area that rings the proposed campus.  Frustratingly, it does not appear that many, if any, parents from the underserved neighborhoods that Summit and the Chamberlins claim to want to serve have signed.  A worrisome sign.

While it is very difficult to criticize a family foundation that has contributed generously to our community, we gently chide the Chamberlins’ relatively opaque and obscure way of asking for input on the future of the Windrush campus.  An email address posted on El Cerrito Patch is not exactly a rigorous process.

The key conflict in Summit’s plan that has many of us parents scratching our heads is the following.  Summit says that it specializes in preparing "traditionally underserved," primarily minority students, to attend college.  Mr. Chamberlin is even quoted in a recent Contra Costa Times article saying that the charter is for “…kids that don’t have very much.”  Yet, their campus is not near the underserved communities of West County.  Why did they not seek a location near their target kids?  If Windrush is the only option, how do they intend to provide safe passage to the kids to get from home to school and back again?  Summit’s proposal plainly says they “do not anticipate the need to make arrangements for transportation of the students except as required by law.”    We’ve heard some say, “Well, the school will be free and open to all, what’s the problem?”  Sophisticated educators such as Summit and educational philanthropists like the Chamberlins know better – it will take a concerted effort to market to, recruit, and provide transportation to our most needy kids.  Without this well thought out plan in place, Summit will be creating a virtual “poll tax” on our most needy students by promising the opportunity of a free and superior education to all yet shutting out the less advantaged by erecting insurmountable barriers to that opportunity.

We are sure they have the capability of resolving this obvious conflict, and they have promised to do it.  As a community, let’s ensure we get it in writing.

Putting aside whether its good public policy, Summit, the Chamberlins, and their parent sponsors have a right and can start a charter school with no particular focus on our underserved kids.  Many parents in our more well to do communities would love to have access to such a high achieving educational program.  This outcome, to us, would be very disappointing because of the squandered opportunity to apply this resource where it is needed most. A charter school designed to serve high achieving students in a well to do community is not exactly the stuff of favorable press clippings and movie sequels.

To West County parents and residents: we are confident that many of you share our concerns and skepticism. Speak out.  A private firm with the resources of Summit and the generosity and goodwill of the Chamberlins could be enormous assets to our district.  Yet, both parties need to have a credible plan committed to in writing, work in partnership with our communities and our school district, and be held accountable to deliver results.  These are our kids and our tax dollars.

To Summit management and The Chamberlin Family Foundation: West Contra Costa County has a strong commitment to the education of our kids.  There is a vibrant network of parents and other community leaders dedicated to this effort.  We encourage you to rethink your commitment to education in our community by withdrawing your application, restarting your process, engaging our entire community, and working collaboratively to determine what is best for all of our students.

Until that time, we respectfully request that the WCCUSD Board deny Summit’s application on the basis that the company’s actions and plan are not consistent with the stated goals of its charter petition.

Please join this critical discussion.  The school board will vote Monday, August 12th, Lavonya Dejean Middle School, 3400 Macdonald Avenue, Richmond.  The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.  It is open to the public.

Respectfully,

Leslie R. Reckler

Cameron M. Moore

Kensington