As teachers and students prepare for the start of the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Aug. 15 school year, two charter organizations – Navigator Schools and Rocketship Education – continue to position themselves for entry into the district by 2014-15.
James Dent, co-founder of Navigator Schools and principal at its flagship Gilroy Prep School, said Navigator’s charter petition is almost finalized and ready for re-submission to MHUSD as soon as next week. In June, MHUSD asked Navigator to re-submit its petition, which district officials contended had “multiple errors and omissions” such as failure to comply with the No Child Left Behind legislation; inclusion of a family contract that stipulates mandatory volunteer time for parents; and having the wrong year for the opening of the school.
“There haven’t been too many changes to it. We had a very thorough review of it,” said Dent, who has been working diligently with staff this summer to get ready for the fall 2013 opening of Navigator Schools’ second charter school in Hollister. “Hopefully, we will have (the Morgan Hill petition) ready to go by next week.”
As for Rocketship Education, the organization is in the midst of altering one of its existing petitions, which was submitted Wednesday to the Santa Clara County Board of Education for approval. Director of Community Development Jessica Garcia-Kohl for Rocketship Education explained the County Board will hold a public hearing in late August to discuss the revision and then vote on it sometime in September.
Unlike Navigator, Rocketship – which is set to open its eighth charter school in fall 2013, called Rocketship Spark off Hellyer Avenue in south San Jose – is petitioning through the county rather than through MHUSD. Rocketship Education was already approved in December 2011 by the Santa Clara County Office of Education to open more than 20 charter schools throughout the county. This does not include Morgan Hill, however, so Rocketship must alter one of its pre-approved petitions in San Jose to reflect the location change.
Garcia-Kohl, who has helped Rocketship canvass low-income neighborhoods in Morgan Hill and acquire 300 signatures from local residents wanting more education options for their children, insists that adding two charters in the same year “will do nothing but benefit the community.”
“Our intentions are to serve the same population as Navigator Schools,” she continued.
In its first year, Rocketship Morgan Hill hopes to attract approximately 600 new students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. Navigator, alternately – following the same format it employed with Gilroy Prep – will offer kindergarten through second grade and serve 180 students for the 2014-15 school year. Navigator will add a grade level each year through the eighth grade.
Both charters will use a lottery-based enrollment system.
Navigator originally submitted its 250-page petition back in April. The process stalled, however, following a disagreement between the two parties that ended with Dent pulling the petition for revisions.
“Our charter petition has been scrutinized and re-scrutinized and reviewed each time we’ve submitted it to a school district,” said Navigator Schools co-founder Sharon Waller, who is convinced the recent revisions, including an “adjusted staffing model,” make it an air-tight document.
Dent said the revisions were minimal but necessary “since we plan on expanding to other communities in the future.” Waller and Dent, who had the petition reviewed by the California Charter Schools Association and an unspecified law firm specializing in charter law, will give the petition one final look this weekend before submitting it to the MHUSD office. Dent had initially planned on having the revisions completed by early July.
“We’re still prepared to open the school in 2014 and are still really looking forward to working with (MHUSD interim superintendent) Steve Betando and the Board,” said Waller, noting Navigator operated on an even shorter timeline when opening its first charter in Gilroy.
If MHUSD denies Navigator Schools’ new 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.
Garcia-Kohl previously observed “the sheer demand of parents wanting us (in Morgan Hill),” as well as the urging of SCCBOE trustee Julia Hover-Smoot – a former MHUSD trustee – were reasons enough to target South County. During a recent SCC Board of Education meeting, Hover-Smoot suggested Rocketship consider setting up shop in MHUSD.
Both Rocketship and Navigator Schools have a proven track record of success.
In Gilroy Prep School’s first year of operation, it broke the 970 Academic Performance Index barrier – the state’s benchmark for this score is 800 – and became the highest-performing first-year charter out of 500 in the state of California since 2006.
Rocketship’s Mateo Sheedy Elementary School, which opened in 2007 in San Jose with 89 percent Latino students, 87 percent students on free and reduced lunch and 63 percent English Language Learners, scored a 924 on the API in 2012. Rocketship’s seven existing San Jose schools averaged an 855 API, according to Garcia-Kohl.
In its opening year, Navigator Schools settled into existing facilities in Gilroy, taking over the old Mexican American Community Services Agency buildings on IOOF Avenue adjacent to South Valley Middle School. In Hollister, Navigator is opening up shop on the R.O. Harden Elementary School campus.
Rocketship – if unable to find any suitable existing facilities in Morgan Hill – will use prefabricated, modular buildings. Rocketship facilities personnel are “getting closer to identifying a site,” said Garcia-Kohl, who will be meeting with Betando in early August to “keep an open line of communication.”
She added the district recommended potential locations for Rocketship Morgan Hill, including near the Morgan Hill Car Wash & Gift Shop at 16225 Monterey Road.
