The Charter School of Morgan Hill will give its annual
performance report to the Morgan Hill Unified School District board
of trustees at a public hearing at during today’s 6 p.m. board
meeting.
Morgan Hill
The Charter School of Morgan Hill will give its annual performance report to the Morgan Hill Unified School District board of trustees at a public hearing at during today’s 6 p.m. board meeting.
A proposal for renewal of the charter, established in 2001, was submitted July 26 and must be approved within the next few months. The report will outline the Charter School’s progress over the last year concerning if it has met its goals, suitability of its faculty and a review of compliance with respect to the charter and the education code. In addition, a report will be given as to how many parent complaints, expulsions, suspensions, claims and/or lawsuits have been filed at the Charter School.
At the Aug. 10 meeting school board meeting, Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot said she was concerned with the demographics at Charter School. According to California charter school law, the ethnic makeup of the school’s student population should closely reflect that of the district’s other schools, though currently – and since its existence – it has not. At the 500-student Charter School, the campus is dominated by white students (about 64 percent), while at MHUSD white students make up about 38 percent of the student population. Hispanic or Latino students account for the next most prevalent race at Charter School (about 19 percent), while at MHUSD nearly 40 percent of the population identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the California Department of Education’s 2008-2009 demographic database.
As for the idea of a new charter school, one that would focus on English language acquisition and would be overseen by the MHUSD school board but funded by grants – the project is on hold for now. Superintendent Wes Smith said because of the attention that was needed after the incident at Live Oak High School May 5 – near the time the charter school was being discussed – the district and board were not able to take several trips to other dependent charter schools in California, which was an important part of the their research before pursuing the school any further. Now, the trips are planned for this fall.
Parents would choose to send their child to the hyper-focused English language school on a voluntary basis. At last discussion, the school board was divided on what the focus of the charter school should be: English acquisition to target students who are not performing at grade level or a visual and performing arts school. The board, however, was open to pursuing the idea though they requested more research and a more clear outline of how the charter school would be funded. The district plans to use the vacant Burnett Elementary School campus for the new school, which could open as soon as fall 2011.
District staff will also discuss this year’s new take on summer school that targeted kindergarten readiness, algebra help for failing seventh-graders and served all migrant students and special education students. The district was forced to cancel all other summer school classes due to budget restrictions, though Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jay Totter commented in July that summer school was “far from being canceled;” 650 students went to school from July 7 to Aug. 3. The time frame of summer school was also pushed closer to the first day of regular instruction Aug. 17 in order to “jump start” learning and also give students and educators an adequate vacation from the regular school year.
Following the public hearing, Assistant Superintendent Socorro Shiels will discuss the California standardized test results, known as STAR scores, which will be the basis of the Adequate Yearly Progress and Academic Performance Index data that is expected to be released sometime in September.
On the board’s closed session agenda is the lawsuit Dariano et al v. the Morgan Hill Unified School District. The lawsuit filed June 23 by John and Dianna Dariano and two other sets of parents representing three of the four Live Oak High School students who were sent home or Cinco de Mayo, for allegedly causing disruption because they were wearing American flag T-shirts. The lawsuit names former principal Nick Boden and former Assistant Miguel Rodriguez who made the decision to send the four teens home. The plaintiffs are seeking “nominal damages” and a permanent remedy for the violation of the students’ First and Fourteenth amendment rights. The suit also asks for compensation for their attorneys and for legal fees.
A response to the lawsuit by MHUSD, whose attorneys are representing Boden and Rodriguez, is due Sept. 2 to the Northern California Superior Court.
MHUSD school board meeting
WHERE: School board meeting room, 15600 Concord Circle
WHEN: Aug. 24, from 6 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m.
