Malibu City Councilmember Laura Rosenthal accuses the superintendent of spreading rumors about teacher loss at other schools if charter status is granted. Superintendent Tim Cuneo denies the allegation.
By Knowles Adkisson / Special to The Malibu Times
In a marathon special meeting at Malibu City Hall last Thursday, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education voted 4-2 to deny the Point Dume Marine Science Charter Petition, with one abstention. The petitioners are expected to appeal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education. A hearing would take place 60 days after the appeal is submitted.
Coming on the heels of a report released Nov. 29 in which District Superintendent Tim Cuneo recommended that the board deny the charter, petitioners issued a 20-page rebuttal last Thursday morning, giving board members less than a day to review it. Several board members expressed frustration at the lack of time to adequately review the petitioners’ response, forcing them to make a decision without substantiated figures.
Board members Ralph Mechur, Kelly Pye (board vice president), Barry Snell (board president) and Jose Escarce voted to deny the charter. Ben Allen and Maria Leon-Vazquez voted in favor and board member Oscar de La Torre abstained.
[Correction, Dec. 8: Allen and Leon-Vazquez voted to oppose the motion to deny, not in favor of the charter. Allen, in an email to the Times said he voted against the initial motion to deny the charter because he “wanted to give the charter petitioners the opportunity to answer whether they wanted to agree to a 30-day extension so as to be able to meet with the staff to … attempt to reconcile the discrepancies between the staff’s report and the petitioners’ claims.]
The district staff-prepared report recommended denying the proposed charter for, among other reasons: a lack of diversity commensurate with district standards, an unsatisfactory curriculum, greater stress on Point Dume teachers (who, the report said, would have a longer work year, no paid holidays and fewer personal leave days) and a funding short-fall of approximately $400,000.
Petitioners rejected the $400,000 figure in their written rebuttal: “The citing of a deficiency of ‘approximately $400k’ without specificity as to how this number was derived is too general to elicit a detailed response.”
They also said the figure ignored the existence of “over $500,000 in written, signed, and dated pledges” from individual Malibu donors, which will kick in should the school achieve charter status.
After a teacher at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School spoke in favor of denying the petition because she felt teaching jobs elsewhere would be jeopardized, Malibu City Council member Laura Rosenthal accused Superintendent Cuneo of personally spreading rumors of staff layoffs in order to sabotage the petition, which he said was “not accurate.”
“That is not true,” Cuneo wrote in an e-mail to The Malibu Times on Tuesday. “I was invited to Malibu High School and Cabrillo by the faculties to help them understand the charter process, the criteria that the Ed. [sic] Code required to evaluate the petition, and whom (the Board of Ed.) [sic] they were to direct their views.”
Parents and teachers from Malibu’s two other elementary schools say the charter school would recruit students from Juan Cabrillo and Webster Elementary schools, therefore reducing enrollment, and possibly result in the loss of teachers at those schools.
Also, the petitioners’ desire to add 6th grade to the charter school would bleed Malibu Middle School’s enrollment, opponents have said.
The impetus behind the petition was fear among Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School parents that dwindling enrollment and heavy budget cuts within the district might force closure of the school, which is the smallest of Malibu’s three elementary schools.
The petitioners said Cuneo suggested such a move in a November 2009 budget meeting at Malibu High School. The school had been shuttered before in 1980, reopening in 1996, but Cuneo has dismissed the fear of closures as premature.
Attorney Lisa Corr, lead counsel for the petitioners, disputed that claim. “If the school was closed prior, of course they are going to have concern about future closures.”
In an e-mail to The Malibu Times Tuesday, Cuneo wrote: “There has been no discussion to close any school, including PDMSS. I don’t see school closures on the horizon.”
Corr also said the Board of Education’s legal team had refused to meet with the petitioners in the weeks preceding the meeting, which she said could have prevented any misunderstandings.
“The process here has been fairly frustrating.” Corr said, citing California Education Code Section 74605, which states that school districts, when reviewing charters, should be guided by the intent of the Legislature that the creation of charter schools should be “encouraged.”
Petitioners also took issue with the superintendent’s assessment of the curriculum as unsatisfactory. The proposed curriculum had been designed by several of the founding teachers present when the school reopened in 1996, and closely resembles the school’s current curriculum.
“Your finding that the curriculum is not good enough says that your own teachers cannot do what they’re paid to do,” Corr said.
The main objection from most board members from the outset was a concern that the proposed charter lacked the necessary funding.
“I don’t see a plan, to be honest,” said board member Mechur.
However, after several hours of passionate testimonials from supporters of the charter, and their reiteration of the $500,000 already pledged, some started to sway.
Board member Jose Escarce said, “The ability to raise funds in this community is unquestioned.”
Board members also questioned whether the granting of charter status for Point Dume would lead to Malibu creating its own school district.
The district could possibly lose some funding if Point Dume becomes a charter school. PDMSC would receive its funding from Sacramento based on average daily attendance, and the school district would no longer receive the Point Dume money. The SMMUSD would have received a fee for oversight, if the local board had approved the petition.
With the clock ticking past midnight, board member Ben Allen requested a 30-day extension to consider the petitioners’ evidence, but it was denied by Corr, who said the appeal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education had to proceed immediately if the school was to open in time for the 2011-2012 school year.
Point Dume parent Ali Thonson, a leader of the charter drive, expressed disappointment with the decision. “I understand their concerns. I think we could have worked together to address it. The board’s been put in a difficult position [with the disputed funding figures].”
Point Dume Charter facts
– If approved, the new school would be known as Point Dume Marine Science Charter (PDMSC). A Board of Directors composed of parents and at-large community members would operate the school, including academics and finances. Whichever entity (local, county or state) approves the charter would be in charge of school oversight.
– PDMSC would be funded mostly through the state government based on daily attendance. Additional money would come from federal programs and local community support. The petition projects $2.4 million in revenue for the first school year, with the amount going up by $100,000 each year. Expenditures are projected to be less than revenue in each of those years. The school would be audited twice per year.
– The petitioners are aiming to open the school for the 2011-12 school year. The initial seven-member Board of Directors would include four parents and three at-large community members, including charter campaign heads Robyn Ross and Ali Thonson, as well as retired PDMSS teacher Anne Payne, who has also participated in the process. They would serve terms that conclude in 2012 (four members) and 2013 (three members). School parents would elect the permanent board for two-year terms in those years.
– The board, which would meet once a month, would function similarly to the SMMUSD’s Board of Education and vote on all major decisions for the school. The principal would serve a role similar to the superintendent. There would be advisory committees, including one for financial oversight and one composed of teachers. Instructors would be working for the school and not for the SMMUSD, and therefore not be union members. No SMMUSD teacher is required to stay at the charter school.
– The curriculum established by the charter is focused on the marine science theme that currently exists at PDMSS. There is a thorough academic plan in the petition for K-6 education. The sixth-grade program is something that does not currently exist at PDMSS or any other elementary school in the district. The petition states the sixth-grade program will “provide an alternate education opportunity for those students who are not ready for a middle school experience that may potentially counteract the increasing trend of departure to private schools after elementary school.”
– The petition further states, “The sixth-grade courses of study will be aligned with current SMMUSD curriculum and prepare students for continuation at Malibu High School.”
– The petition projects a 352-student population by the 2012-13 school year. This year there are approximately 270 students at the school. There will be an application period open to anybody of elementary school age each year for enrollment for the following year. If there are more applications than available spots for a grade level, a drawing will take place to determine who gets to go. Existing students are guaranteed enrollment. The preferences that follow in descending order are siblings of existing students, those who reside within what is currently the PDMSS area, children of full-time school employees, siblings of the school’s alumni and district residents.