The Saddleback School District Trustees won’t allow Oxford Preparatory Academy (OPA) to open a charter school in Mission Viejo following a split vote last night. Local parents hoped Oxford would bring a fresh K-8 educational opportunity to the community.
Superintendent Steven Fish was the force behind the rejection, having compiled a 33-page report recommending denial of OPA’s application. State and federal policies give high priority to establishing more charter schools, but local Districts often feel threatened by the entities. Charter schools are public schools, without tuition, but are separate non-profit organizations, operating under their own Boards of Directors.
In a recent article the Dispatch noted Superintendent Fish did not seem inclined to “roll up his sleeves” to work with OPA and the community to create a new charter alternative. Last night OPA’s attorney, Jerry Simmons, also pointed out Fish failed to contact OPA to seek a dialogue regarding his report. Simmon’s law firm represents 2/3 of the charter schools in California. He previously indicated the 300-page MV charter petition was superior to others.
The founder of OPA, Sue Roche, is renowned for her success as principal at a non-charter school in Chino. Using her leadership and methods, the school is the 72nd highest rated elementary school in California for educational achievement. Of the top 72 schools, Ms. Roche has the highest percentage of Hispanic students. If this were the realm of free enterprise or professional sports, it seems Ms. Roche would be a star commodity bringing astronomical offers, based on her proven performance. But in the world of government bureaucracy, that’s not how things work.
OPA will consider whether to revise its application and resubmit it to SVUSD, or instead appeal the decision to the Orange County Board of Education. The OC Board can overturn SVUSD’s denial. Attorney Simmons told the Board there were dozens of factual and legal mistakes in Fish’s report. The Board may have abused its discretion by putting significant weight on financial issues that aren’t supposed to be considered in charter school decisions.
Ginny Aitkens, Suzie Schwartz and Nancy Kirkpatrick backed Fish’s recommendation, while Dore Gilbert and Don Sedgwick supported OPA.
OPA goes before the Chino Unified School District on Thursday with a separate charter school application. In a highly unusual situation, the Chino Superintendent failed to release his recommendation with the agenda on Monday. The Chino Board secretary advised the delay was caused by a continuing collaboration between the District and OPA. Early indications seemed to favor approval in Chino, but the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin today says some Chino trustees want to reserve judgment until staff first reviews SVUSD’s rejection.
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Haven’t folks ever read Thomas Jefferson? He writes about how without free education democracy can not survive. Jefferson didn’t mean free in terms of tuition. He meant academic freedom; away from government or private enterprise rule. Letting privatized schools into our community will undermine our quality of life as surely as “home schoolin’” has.
It is shameful that the majority of SVUSD Trustees decided to hold its students hostage to the status quo of public education. They could have made a positive difference in education in Orange County – what a missed opportunity for the trustees and the students of their district they are supposed to represent. I guess change is hard for some politicians.