Parents began studying the charter process because of a fear the school was in danger of closing due to its decreasing population and because of the district’s financial crisis.
By Jonathan Friedman / The Malibu Times
The group of parents looking to transform Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, or PDMSS, into a charter school expects to have an application ready for school district review next month. While the group prepares the lengthy application, members have been meeting with school board members and other Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials. Petition leaders said the meetings have been positive, although there has been no commitment of support.
PDMSS parents Robyn Ross and Ali Thonson are leading the effort of 14 parents. Ross and Thonson said there has been positive feedback from many other parents, and so far no negative comments. A law firm, budget consultant and a parent who went through the process have been hired. Also, the teachers are being paid to create a curriculum. Ross declined to say how much this has cost, but she said fundraising was done to collect money for the effort.
Ross and Thonson began studying the charter process late last year because of a fear the school was in danger of closing due to its decreasing population and because of the district’s financial crisis, which, in their opinion, made it necessary for PDMSS to oversee its own situation.
As a charter school, PDMSS would have self-rule with a board. It would have to abide by state education standards, including testing. It would receive direct funding from Sacramento based on daily attendance, and would be audited twice per year. All money raised through the PTA and by other donations would stay at the school.
After the district receives the application, the Board of Education has 60 days to make a decision. Extensions are possible. Rejection by the board could be appealed to the county and after that, the state. If the county or state education agencies approve the application, then they, rather than the SMMUSD, would be charged with oversight for the charter school.
Group members have spoken with all seven board members. Thonson spoke positively about these meetings.
“They’ve been willing to meet with us and hear our thoughts, but at the same time not having gone through this process before, it’s difficult for them to give us any indication at this point whether they’re in support or not,” Thonson said.
Earlier this month, officials from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, or LACOE, hosted a charter workshop for the school board. They talked about various examples of charter schools, including several that had financial problems.
Ross said she was pleased SMMUSD officials took the initiative to set up the workshop so they could educate themselves about the process, rather than waiting until next month when they receive the petition.
“I thought LACOE did a reasonably good job of presenting the information,” she said. “I would have liked to have heard more about the successful charters that are happening all over the place. There are so many of them. But the meeting seemed to focus more on what can go wrong.”
Marlo Hartsuyker, an attorney who recently went through the charter process for an elementary school in the Conejo Valley Unified School District in Thousand Oaks, spoke at the workshop. She has been hired by the PDMSS group as a consultant. Hartsuyker said the Conejo Valley board rejected the application from Meadows Arts and Technology Elementary School, but the county approved. Although she said the school is doing well, Hartsuyker said it was unfortunate the approval did not take place at the school district level.
“When our students move onto middle school, there is a disconnect,” Hartsuyker said. “Our school feels like it is not part of the district. We’re doing a lot of innovative things there. And where we could share those amazing programs and really feed off each other and create a symbiotic relationship, it’s really not there.”
Hartsuyker said during the application process with the county, there was a great deal of give and take on various issues. She said this was not the case at the school district level.
No board members offered an opinion of support or rejection. They asked numerous questions, many of them focusing on the financial implications for the district and PDMSS. Board member Oscar de la Torre said he hoped this process would involve “open communication.”
“I support self-determination and making sure that the parents and the community have local control of the schools, and I understand they know what’s best for their children,” he said. “On principal, I feel very good about that.”