Publication Date: Friday, January 16, 2004
Parents may pursue charter school
Parents may pursue charter school
(January 16, 2004) District cool to idea of Chinese immersion program
by Rachel Metz
Parents working to bring a Chinese immersion program to the school district are looking at creating a charter school after the school board again showed resistance to enacting their idea.
At Tuesday's school board meeting, the Palo Alto Chinese Education group re-introduced its 2-year-old plans to create a Mandarin immersion program within the district. Sensing resistance from board members based on the district's financial situation, organizers said they are considering creating a charter school.
"We (can) give the whole thing up and you know just forget about Mandarin or frankly any other language as being a fundamental element of our children's education. Alternatively, we can do a charter school and that is a very big effort, which we think ... will be more expensive for the parents of students who attend," group supporter Doug Hebbel said.
Organizer's current proposal would develop an elementary immersion program in the district with native English and Mandarin speakers starting in 2004. If the program was successful, it could grow to include middle schools. The group said the program shouldn't cost the district any more than a regular class, and program parents would pay for any extra costs incurred. It would be modeled after the district's Spanish-English immersion program, which has been in place since 1995.
More than 15 supporters of the program attended the meeting. The group said it has an enrollment petition with 80 children on it who are willing and able to participate in the immersion program in 2004, 2005 and 2006 if it's approved. Organizers' last tangle with the board was in June 2003, when the board rejected the group's request to co-sign on a state grant application in support of the program.
But board members seem unwilling to support the program due to its financial situation.
"I think the timing is poor and we have responsibilities to maintain the programs we have, and we're struggling to do that right now," board Vice President Gail Price said.
Board members balked at the idea of having staff work with organizers to sort out proposal issues like its actual cost, citing the budget crisis again and staff's occupation with issues affecting all students in the district.
"The remaining staff that we have here at the district office is focused intently on how to continue to provide a quality education for the 10,000 students in this district with the resources we have -- or the resources we think we'll have -- come this fall," board President Cathy Kroymann said.
But some board members also recognized the possibility that if organizers prevail in pushing through a charter school proposal, it could still end up costing the district money.
To get a charter school, a public school independent of a school district, off the ground organizers need to draft a proposal and have either the school board or county board of education approve it. While the charter school would operate independently of the district and would be financed through the state, the district may have to shell out money due to a state mandate that says districts must provide space for the charter school or give it money for its own campus.
Based on the reaction of another local school district to a recent charter school proposal, it's unlikely the organizers' plan will fly in Palo Alto. The Los Altos school board denied a petition for the Bullis Charter School in May 2003. However, the Santa Clara County Board of Education approved the school's charter, leaving the Los Altos School District to provide suitable housing for the school.
Despite board reactions at Tuesday's meeting, the group keeps rolling along. They've filed paperwork to gain nonprofit incorporated status as the Peninsula Language Academy for Youth, which they believe will be beneficial in pushing forward a plan for a charter school.
"We're going to keep trying," Mah said.
Rachel Metz can be e-mailed at rmetz@paweekly.com
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