Two dozen residents from three different local school communities, as well as Morgan Hill Unified School District’s six-member board of education, agreed Feb. 10 that splitting Voices College-Bound Language Academy’s student body between two different campuses is an unacceptable route to providing the charter school with local facilities.
“We do not want to split our school,” said Voices parent Mari Cruz Ruiz. “It’s not an option for us.”
Many of the same speakers stressed their belief that housing two dual immersion programs on the same campus at San Martin Gwinn Environmental Science Academy was also not a favorable scenario for MHUSD or Voices students.
“The idea of housing two dual immersion programs at the same school site does not sit well with me,” said SM/G parent Matthew Monaco, who cited several dual immersion education experts that were dumbfounded about the notion of making such a decision.
Another SM/G parent, Chrislaine Miller, described the district’s facilities proposal as “very short-sighted” and one that “lacks creativity.”
“There is no easy solution,” added MHUSD Assistant Superintendent Kirsten Perez, who ran down the challenges presented by moving Voices into any of the district’s eight possible school sites.
Thus, without a vote at Wednesday evening’s special meeting, the school board took the only action that was required of them and directed district leadership staff to find one existing school site campus to accommodate the second-year charter school for the 2016-17 year.
“No way we should have even offered this as a possible solution,” said Trustee Gino Borgioli of pairing Voices with SM/G. “It’s clear to me the present option is just not a suitable option at all.”
Board President Bob Benevento took a different tact in expressing his perspective on the complex matter.
“I cannot see this school being housed at SM/G and having competing programs on the same campus. I feel very strongly about that,” Benevento said. “I’m also of the opinion that (Voices classes) need to be consolidated at one site. Problem is, that’s a big hit financially.”
The district needed the board’s approval to offer a split-site option as the Proposition 39 negotiations continue between Voices and MHUSD. However, the district ultimately decides what single site to offer Voices without needing board approval. Under Prop 39, the local district must supply “reasonably equivalent, contiguous, furnished and equipped space to charter schools serving in-district students in classroom-based instruction.”
“We don’t have to come back to the board if we’re offering one site,” MHUSD Superintendent Steve Betando explained. “That’s the role of staff to make the offer, but I’m asking for (board) input.”
Another element to the Prop 39 negotiations is the discrepancy in the total number of in-district students currently attending the charter school and the projections for the 2016-17 school year. Voices is requesting accommodations for 132 total students, while the district believes 83 is a more factual number.
Betando asked the six trustees for any suggestions on locating Voices that differed from their two-option Prop 39 proposal of either splitting four classrooms between SM/G and Barrett elementary schools, or having all of them together on the same southernmost school campus in San Martin.
“This type of conversation is going on in virtually every district in California and across the country,” added Betando, noting that in speaking with each of the MHUSD site principals they all said the same thing: “We don’t have any space.”
Trustees did throw out several ideas Feb. 10 that district staff addressed and broke down individually. In the Prop 39 negotiations, Voices leaders—who opted for a private one-year lease at Advent Lutheran Church for the inaugural 2015-16 school year—requested space at the Adult Education site (17960 Monterey Road).
“Why is the Adult Ed site not satisfactory?,” Benevento questioned.
Perez gave many reasons, including that it sits on only a 3.5-acre site rather than the state-required 10 acres for an elementary school; and the Adult Ed site does not contain essential fields, playground space, a library, multi-use building or central kitchen to make school lunches. Other factors were lack of parking, no dropoff/pickup area and traffic congestion on Monterey Road.
Trustee Donna Ruebusch asked about the former Burnett Elementary School site that sat vacant for several years prior to the district making $7 million in renovations to convert it into the new home of Central Continuation High School.
“We’re all frustrated by such few choices and difficult choices,” Ruebusch said.
Perez explained again there is not adequate play space at Central or asphalt area for the elementary students and that a physical barrier would be needed to separate the different-aged students because “it is not advisable to locate elementary school students on a high school campus.”
New housing developments bring more students to schools
An influx in housing developments throughout Morgan Hill was another determining factor that eliminated other school sites as possibilities, according to Perez. When questioned about rooms at El Toro Elementary, Perez stated that 157 new homes—which brings in new students at varying grade levels—were set for completion prior to next school year within its boundaries. Other sites most impacted by new development were Paradise Valley (70 new homes anticipated) and Nordstrom (66 homes).
“Even with sixth grade moving to middle school, (our elementary schools) are still bursting at the seams,” she said.
Benevento asked for cost estimates of dropping in portable classrooms at any of the school sites to accommodate Voices. Perez estimated upwards of $500,000 for four portables, but explained that each year the charter school plans on growing by one grade level and therefore that would be an unadvisable annual hit to the district’s budget. Perez added even if they were to go the portable route there may not be enough time to install the proper utilities that accompany them by next fall.
Voices made its initial Prop 39 request in November and the district had until Feb. 1 to make its preliminary offer. Voices now has until March 1 to respond to the district’s proposal, then MHUSD must make a final offer by April 1. Finally, the charter leaders have until May 1 to accept or reject that offer.
“For years this district has vilified charter schools for one reason or another,” Trustee Rick Badillo said. “Programs are put in place for students to learn in different ways…They have the right for us to provide them classrooms.”
The best location for those classrooms—as well as the number of classrooms required—was still left unanswered at the end of the 2.5-hour discussion.
“I cannot see this school being housed at SM/G and having competing programs on the same campus. I feel very strongly about that. I’m also of the opinion that (Voices classes) need to be consolidated at one site. Problem is, that’s a big hit financially.”
