A new firestorm between charter and public school officials is brewing in Morgan Hill as local school district leadership recommended two charter schools share the same aging campus in the northernmost outskirts of town for the 2016-17 school year.
The issue will be discussed at the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s board of education meeting on Tuesday.
“As a result of the construction of the new gym on the Encinal campus, Charter School of Morgan Hill and Voices College-Bound Language Academy at Morgan Hill could share the Encinal site by temporarily converting the existing multi-use building into classroom space or by demolishing the multi-use building and placing leased portables in its place for the next school year,” according to the March 15 school board agenda.
CSMH Principal Paige Cisewski disagrees with that logic and, upon learning of the district’s plans, has sent out a school-wide email asking for parents to voice their concerns to MHUSD and its school board.
“We are the most crowded school in Morgan Hill Unified, and we’re the one they chose to put them,” said Cisewski, whose project-based learning school maintains a waiting list in the hundreds of hopeful parents wanting to transfer their children in. “There’s just no room.”
Voices Founding Principal Frances Teso could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Voices and MHUSD have been involved in ongoing negotiations in accordance with Proposition 39 guidelines set forth by the state since the first-year charter school filed its newest facilities request back in November 2015.
“It’s a no-win situation,” MHUSD Board President Bob Benevento said. “No matter where we place that charter school somebody is going to be unhappy.”
Voices was hoping for classroom allotments at the current Adult Education site (formerly Central High School) about a half-mile north of downtown on Monterey Road. However, the district shot that idea down.
In February, the board of education rejected the MHUSD district’s idea of offering Voices either split site facilities between San Martin Gwinn and Barrett elementary schools or housing all Voices classes in San Martin. Both options would have placed two different dual immersion programs from Voices and SM/G on the same campus.
“The board felt strongly that SM/G was not appropriate. It was just one of those tough issues,” Trustee Donna Ruebusch said. “This is a very difficult decision. I think the district is continuing to look at all options to see if there are any other choices.”
Two weeks ago at the March 1 meeting, the board approved the district’s request for $77,600 in expenses for McKim Design Group to assess CSMH’s old multi-use facility for classroom conversion. The 31-year-old structure of two connected portables was replaced by a brand new, Measure G-funded $5 million multi-purpose gymnasium this school year. It is still under construction and is nearing completion.
At that time, Trustee David Gerard asked if district staff was considering converting CSMH’s old multi-use building into classrooms for the purpose of housing Voices there. Superintendent Steve Betando responded by asking Gerard if he would like it to be considered. During the same discussion, Betando informed trustees that the district only needed board approval to offer a split-site option and not for its final decision on a single location.
“I strongly opposed putting Voices at SM/G or Barrett,” said Gerard when contacted Friday. “(The latest decision) poses a hardship on parents from both Voices and CSMH.”
Benevento added the district is working with Voices—which has until May 1 to accept or deny the MHUSD’s final offer—to find an alternative private location in Morgan Hill for next school year.
“The best option would be to find a private location where they could be housed,” he said.
Cisewski, who attended the March 1 meeting and briefly addressed the board during the discussion of the old multi-use building, said she saw the writing on the wall as well.
“We don’t have the space,” stressed Cisewski, who also submitted a Prop 39 request to the district to expand CSMH’s capacity with up to five more classrooms on its campus.
CSMH is located at 9530 Monterey Road on what was previously the district’s Encinal School site. It remains MHUSD’s only locally authorized charter school since established in 2001. Voices, which was rejected by the MHUSD school board, is currently in its first year of operation under the oversight of the Santa Clara County Office of Education and has temporary facilities at a local church. However, the local district—in this case MHUSD—is still required to provide equitable facilities to any charter under state education code.
“This is the district strategically undermining the whole concept of having a charter school,” said Trustee Rick Badillo after learning the news. “It’s unfortunate for all charter parents. I wonder whose idea this was?”
District staff, however, called it a “cost-effective temporary facility solution” since it has been running into space issues at all its elementary school sites. They also provided detailed list of shared benefits to having Voices on the CSMH campus, including use of the new multi-use room, as well as explaining that Voices officials “plan to procure private facilities beginning in 2017-18.”
“If you really want to point a finger at somebody, point it at the county for authorizing this charter to begin with,” Benevento said. “There is no simple answer.”
The March 15 board meeting will be held at the district’s 15600 Concord Circle headquarters with closed session opening at 5 p.m. and public session to begin around 6 p.m.
Other general business items
—Public hearing to approve MHUSD contract openers with the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers; and
—Public hearing to approve an increase in development fees for residential and commercial/industrial construction to $3.48 per square foot for residential and $.56 per square foot for commercial/industrial.
Lots of work on the way at San Martin/Gwinn
—Authority to delegate $3,189,502 in contracts for new classrooms and parking lot project at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School. The money is coming from three accounts: $1,099,901 from one-time discretionary funds, $890,974 from Measure G, and $1,198,628 from capital facilities funds. The district will install two new classroom modular buildings to accommodate the new K-8 grade level configuration and provide a new student drop-off location and parking lot on Llagas Avenue, according to the consent item.
“This includes all of the offsite work to widen Llagas Avenue and create a left turning lane, the new parking lot and student drop-off loop, modular building foundations, utilities services and interior landscape improvements,” according to the March 15 agenda item.
—Approval of $1,572,000 contract (Measure G) with DRP Builders for new administration building at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School.
Other consent calendar items
—Approval of $12,420 agreement (transportation fund) with Alum Rock Unified School District for transportation of two homeless students living within Alum Rock to MHUSD;
—Approval of $176,407 contract (transportation fund) with AZ Buses to buy two buses to add to the district’s transportation fleet;
—$44,000 agreement (Measure G) with LPGA, Inc. to develop educational specifications for the design and construction of new school facilities;
—$36,458 contract (school site funds) with Advanced Via Individual Determination (AVID) Center to provide an AVID program at the secondary level in 2016-17. “AVID is an elective program that is designed to increase schoolwide learning and performance,” according to the consent item. “The AVID College Readiness System (ACRS) accelerates student learning, uses research based methods of effective instruction, provides meaningful and motivational professional learning, and acts as a catalyst for systemic reform and change.”
