Point Reyes Light - December 6, 2001

LSD Open Class may become charter

By Daniel Freed

A contingent of administrators, teachers, and parents of children in Lagunitas School District’s Open Classroom program have initiated a study on making the program a state charter school next year.

Some forty interested school officials and parents gathered at Lagunitas School last week to determine if there was adequate support to continue researching the costs, benefits, and problems associated with the switch.

Alan Weiler, an Open Classroom parent and chairman of the newly formed Charter Committee, said that the meeting showed "a preponderance of support" for pushing ahead with turning the program into a charter school. However, two dissenting voices were raised by permanent-status Open Classroom teachers John Kaufman and Larry Nigro.

"Something’s telling me, ‘Stop! Hold on!’" said Kaufman, whose wife Katie Rasmussen is a teacher in the district’s Montessori program. "There’s still just something about splitting away and pulling away from the rest of the district."

Kaufman and Nigro could ultimately have veto power over the final decision to convert the Open Classroom to a charter school. State law requires that 50 percent of permanent-status teachers in any established school or school program seeking to convert to a charter school sign the charter petition. As the only two permanent-status teachers in the program, at least one of the two would have to approve the charter petition before it is passed on to district trustees for approval later this year.

Other options for proponents

However, district Supt. Mary Buttler said Tuesday that the matter may not be so simple. Open Classroom parents could find a way around the state provision if they were determined to make the change, she said.

For the time being, Nigro and Kaufman have said they do not want to stop the committee from continuing to pursue the charter, but both have expressed reservations about the idea.

"What this charter is growing from doesn’t really feel healthy," Nigro said. "I’m a public school teacher, and this doesn’t feel like public school."

California Teachers Association’s Marin consultant Bob Kebell told The Light that he met with Kaufman and Nigro last Tuesday to discuss their positions on the matter. "Both of them are concerned that this isn’t being pushed for the right reasons," Kebell said.

"Normally you have to start a charter to have some type of innovative program," he added. "They already have an innovative program. I believe the reason here is to circumvent the seniority rights of teachers in the district."

Layoffs looming in decision

The decision to become a charter school would in fact allow the Open Classroom program to bypass state regulations mandating the program lay off recently hired teachers before those who have district seniority rights.

"The district seniority list is the basis for most of the conversation regarding charter schools in this district," Buttler acknowledged at a district board of trustees meeting last Tuesday.

Declining enrollment has made layoffs among the district’s 18 teachers inevitable, Buttler explained. Because the school receives funding based on student enrollment, she said that by March 15 she will "make a staffing recommendation to the board based upon teacher seniority and the number of students enrolled."

District-wide enrollment is down from 362 last year to 307 this year. Projections through the 2007-2008 school year also show continuing declines.

Parents want change

Many Open Classroom parents have asserted that the program would lose some of its best teachers if it were not converted into a charter school and thus forced to make cutbacks based upon seniority. The scenario would likely bring senior district teachers – with more tenure but less familiarity with the program’s philosophy – into the Open Classroom to teach their children, they said.

"If [less senior teachers] can get bumped by someone with a different philosophy [than Open’s], then it doesn’t benefit the children," said district trustee and Open Classroom parent Thelma Kay-Weiss last week. "Making seniority the only criteria by which a teacher stays in the class seems crazy."

Teachers left over from the now defunct Academics and Enrichment program, said Kebell, are among those with the most seniority. It is the A&E teachers that Open Classroom parents are reluctant to let into their children’s program, he added.

Open Classroom vs. A&E

Buttler said Tuesday that to her knowledge Open Classroom parents have no personal problems with A&E teachers, but do have issues with the rigid style of the A&E program.

"They’d prefer to lay off teachers from the A&E program," said Kebell. "Unfortunately, for them, those teachers have more seniority than those in Montessori and Open."

The District’s Montessori and middle school programs have not yet taken steps allowing them to become charter schools next year. It is possible that the programs could be written into Open Classroom’s charter, but, unless they do so, they would be required to follow state law and lay off key teachers who lack seniority.

"The moral dilemma is that the Open program wants to maintain a philosophy of how they want their kids educated," Buttler said. "But how they can do that and not alter the Montessori and middle school programs is the question at hand."

Letter to trustees

In an open letter to district trustees and employees, Montessori teachers said that Open Classroom’s application for charter school status has led to "the seeds of devisiveness (sic.) growing among the staff."

"Is the movement to support a charter school primarily an attempt to create a program seniority list that does not adhere to the district list?" the letter asked. "If so, is it ethical for teachers in other programs to be forced out of their jobs in order to save teacher positions in Open?"

"I’ve been looking for the right word," said Kebell. "It’s definitely legal. But it’s also possibly immoral and unethical."

Though the decision to move forward with the conversion seems likely, the Open Classroom parents have agreed to delay any final decision to allow for additional discussion with parents and teachers in the other two district programs.

Open Classroom parents at last Wednesday’s meeting allocated $2,000 as a stipend to those continuing to draft the charter and pursue a state grant which would cover start-up costs for the charter school should it be approved.

What is a charter?

Weiler noted that the charter, while still in draft form, has offered those working on it "an opportunity to reinvigorate the program and to establish it as an entity unto itself."

California charter schools can be organized by teachers, parents, or community leaders. The state Department of Education’s website says that since 1992 charter schools have been places where innovative teaching methods have been tested in an effort to improve learning.

Charter schools can be created as an entirely new entity, from an existing school, or, as in Open Classroom’s case, from a program within a school. Under the current plan, a chartered Open Classroom school could function under rules it sets out in its charter while paying Lagunitas School District to perform administrative services.

An entire district can also convert to an all-charter district, said Janet Wadley, Education Programs Assistant for the Board of Education’s Charter Schools Office. She added that there are 14 all-charter districts and that most are in rural areas. While making Lagunitas all-charter has been discussed, no organized effort has been put forth to do so.

All students welcome

By law, any public school converting to a charter must give preference in admissions to district residents over those from outside district boundaries. However, any California resident is eligible to attend the school.

Wadley explained that charter schools remain responsible for educating their students in core areas – math, English, science, social science – but that the way they do it is up to them.

She said that a charter school’s ability to meet California education standards is measured by state-sanctioned standardized testing. However, parents can excuse their children from these tests, as they often have in the past in the Lagunitas District.

In such an event, the responsibility of monitoring student progress toward state standards rests with the charter-granting body – in this case district trustees. Wadley told The Light that in performing its oversight duties one California school board was surprised to learn that a charter school student had been allowed to perform an independent study on vacuuming.

All facets of a charter school’s operations – from the educational program, to admissions, to teacher salaries, hiring, and retirement – are set forth in the school’s charter.

Deadline in June

The price tag and timeline of becoming a charter school varies, said Wadley. She added that in order for Open Classroom to operate as a state-recognized charter school next fall, the charter schools office must receive a district-approved charter by June 1, 2002.

Former Open Classroom teacher Sandy Doward is leading a committee which is drafting the actual charter petition. When contacted by The Light on Monday, she refused to comment on the draft charter’s details.

Trustee Kay-Weiss said that decisions that impact a small staff are especially difficult for school officials. However, she said the decisions Nigro and Kaufman might face may be even more difficult.

"If they say ‘yes’ to the charter, a friend is going to lose their job," she said. "If they say ‘no,’ a different friend is going to lose their job and the program is going to suffer."

District trustees will hold a special meeting to discuss the charter school proposal at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, in the Lagunitas campus multi-purpose room.

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