Charter schools: A community divided

A war of words and charges of “dirty pool” politics have characterized a bruising battle in Morgan Hill over the last seven months as two charter school organizations seek approval to open elementary schools.
After Morgan Hill Unified School District trustees rejected petitions from Navigator and Rocketship charter school organizations, the battle now moves to the Santa Clara County Office of Education on appeal.
Meanwhile, both sides have questioned the others’ methods in getting their message out. Claims include accusations that charter school proponents are canvassing neighborhoods with false promises and mis-information and counter claims charge district employees with abusing their roles as educators to disseminate anti-charter information. Meanwhile, a MHUSD administrator and a charter school board member have lit up the Morgan Hill Times’ comment board with a sharp war of words.
“It’s been unfortunately divisive when, I think, both sides of the issue are in it for the same reason,” said Navigator Schools co-founder James Dent, whose organization has successfully opened charters in Gilroy in 2011 and in Hollister, this past fall. “In the long run, if we didn’t think we could bring something positive to the children and families, we wouldn’t open a school there.”
County Superintendent Xavier De La Torre explained resistance is a common reaction by local districts when confronted with charter petitions. But he described MHUSD’s mobilization efforts among administration, teachers and community members as “extraordinary” and “remarkable.”
“This one will be a little more visceral and emotional,” said De La Torre, who has been keeping tabs on the boiling situation in Morgan Hill leading into Wednesday’s appeal hearings for Navigator Schools and Redwood City-based Rocketship Education. He already visited Navigator’s Gilroy Prep School and has spoken with MHUSD Interim Superintendent Steve Betando multiple times.
“Morgan Hill Unified has done more, I think, in terms of their own examination of the petitions and mobilization than we’ve ever seen in the past during my tenure,” De La Torre added.
The MHUSD School Board denied – on identical 6-1 votes – petitions from Navigator and Rocketship on Oct. 8 and Nov. 5. The County Board of Education will vote on the petitions in the next two months and, if approved, MHUSD will have to make accommodations.
Morgan Hill administrators and teachers have staunchly opposed the charter schools. Some educators helped start an online petition, “Support Morgan Hill Schools; Stop Navigator and Rocketship Charters,” that as of Wednesday morning had 605 electronic signatures. Others acquired hundreds of additional petition signatures by approaching parents as they arrived to pick up their children in front of several MHUSD schools. The petition even hung in one elementary school’s teachers’ lounge at Paradise Valley Elementary and at PA Walsh Elementary one teacher wrote on a whiteboard: “The Morgan Hill Times has more articles in support of Navigator/charters today. Today I’ll call to cancel my subscription that I’ve had since 1977. Anyone else?”
Last week, Betando sent out a mass phone alert to inform all MHUSD parents of the date, time and location of the first public hearing, stating that: “The County staff has asked me to get a message to you.” In the recording, Betando also instructs parents to visit the homepage of the district website to view those specifics as well as the rationale the district used in denying both charter petitions.
However, “that wasn’t from our office,” countered President Grace Mah of the County Board of Education. “It’s not something we asked for him to put out. He did that on his own initiative … he’s pulling a full-court press to get as many parents in support of the school district as he can.”
Principal Glen Webb of Britton Middle School and Ray Blanchard, a member of Navigator’s Board of Advisors, were the first combatants on the comment board. Blanchard hyped the charter’s successes and knocked MHUSD for poor test scores.
Webb believes (1) charter schools do not offer any innovation solutions to student achievement; (2) use deceptive methods to manipulate the state’s assessment tests; and (3) have no intentions of collaborating with local districts. He has engaged Navigator Schools Board member Ray Blanchard on the issue.
“I strongly believe that our community, Board, and staff take their responsibility as caretakers for the quality of the educational program very seriously,” explained Webb, “and when that responsibility is challenged with information from charter proponents that is both false and misleading, it follows that the emotions around something so near and dear to all of our hearts will run high.”
Webb said MHUSD has even been contacted by other districts looking for advice on how to fight charters.
From the get-go, beginning in July, MHUSD Interim Superintendent Steve Betando immediately let it be known that Navigator Schools and Rocketship Education are not welcome in the district. He employed his administrative staff to go through the two charter petitions with a fine-tooth comb and ultimately recommended denial on both.
Betando believes the introduction of two MHUSD magnet academies – one for technology and the other environmental science – in 2014 will provide the type of education variety, diversity and alternatives than what the charters can offer.
“(The district) is concerned that having to accommodate two charter schools with facilities could make those (magnet) programs and academies vulnerable,” De La Torre noted. “So I understand Superintendent Betando really wanting the opportunity to implement these exciting programs, and it is important for the district to be given every opportunity to do that.”
MHUSD Board trustee Amy Porter-Jensen said she and other board members were “very open-minded” throughout the process. She met with charter organizers, listened to emotionally-charged public comments, and visited existing charter schools currently operated by Navigator and Rocketship. However, Porter-Jensen came away with a less-than-favorable assessment.
“I thought I was going to like them, but after visiting them I saw the segregation (similar to the Charter School of Morgan Hill) that I am opposed to,” explained Porter-Jensen, referring to what some members of the community allege is segregation of students from different backgrounds at CSOMH, one of two existing charters in Morgan Hill.
While district-wide MUHSD has 48 percent Hispanic students; 38 percent free and reduced lunch-eligible; and 18 percent English Learners, CSOMH’s student population is 21 percent Hispanic; 5 percent free and reduced lunch-eligible; and no English Learners, according to statistics from the California Department of Education.
In multiple interviews with County Board of Education members, Julia Hover-Smoot – a longtime Morgan Hill resident and one-time MHUSD trustee – and fellow trustees Joseph DiSalvo and President Grace Mah, expressed disappointment that MHUSD did not try to collaborate with the charter organizations and instead jumped into attack mode.
DiSalvo was dumbfounded as to why MHUSD has taken such an approach, considering the positive relationship between Navigator and Gilroy Unified School District.
“It’s been a win-win for everybody, so how can that happen 15, 10 miles to the south and 10, 15 miles to the north we have a war?” DiSalvo said. “If Gilroy can do it and embrace it with the superintendent recommending approval, I don’t get why Morgan Hill couldn’t have done that.”
GUSD is not alone, as Hover-Smoot pointed to collaboration efforts made with charters within the San Jose Unified, Alum Rock, Franklin-McKinley and Los Altos school districts.
Dent touted the collaboration between staff at Navigator’s Hollister Prep and teachers at RO Harden Elementary School, where the two share the same campus. Dent explained how laptop computers are shared among both groups and teachers meet regularly for training. He also pointed out that Navigator has even offered to loan a “substantial amount of money” so “(Hollister) can expand their technology use faster.”
“We share everything with them,” Dent said. “That’s the same spirit of us coming to Morgan Hill.”
Reflecting on the actions taken by district staff, Hover-Smoot maintains that teachers “absolutely have the right to go out into the public to disseminate their message. The public has the right to hear both sides, just like (the County) Board has the absolute right to come to a conclusion in a difficult situation.”