The Charter-Textbook-Testing-Corporate Complex in the Valley?

New York Times columnist Gail Collins' op ed in the New York Times yesterday clearly lays out the nexus between charter schools, textbook companies, and standardized tests. If the charter petition is approved by the Lagunitas Board of Trustees on May 10th or June 12th our beloved school too will come under the control of the Charter-Textbook-Testing-Corporate Complex. The charter (notice that it does not include "Waldorf" in its name or require its teachers be Waldorf trained when hired) will be run by a virtually unaccountable Walmart affiliated non-profit that requires our children spend months prepping and taking standardized tests — something completely antithetical to a Waldorf curriculum.

If the Board votes to approve this charter petition we will see the first wedge of a creeping loss of control over our local public school, the draining of public school tax dollars, the erosion of services to our children, the loss of staff and teachers, and ironically the ultimate loss of a true public Waldorf program. As Collins succinctly concludes, "We’re now in a world in which decisions about public education involve not just parents and children and teachers, but also big profits or losses for the private sector. Change the tests, or the textbooks, or the charters, or even the rules for teacher certification, and you change somebody’s bottom line."

Do we really want a Walmart in West Marin? Be there May 10th to speak your mind and say "No charter. Yes, public Waldorf school."

Brown Act complaint over charter petition filed with Marin DA

Today I filed the following complaint with the Marin District Attorney requesting an investigation into possible violations of the Brown Act by my fellow parents in the Waldorf Inspired Program Administrative Council for the undemocratic process by which they prepared the charter petition. The Brown Act establishes very strict rules about how public agencies and their subsidiaries must function in an open and transparent manner. Many of the details of my complaint will be familiar to readers of my previous posts. The referenced attached documents are not included in this posting and are on file with the DA's office. 

We can only hope that the LWIP AC will recognize the seriousness of my complaint. They could resolve this issue right away if they withdrew the charter petition in order to spare the District possible fines, legal costs, and an injunction which would put a stop to the charter petition if the Marin DA ultimately finds any Brown Act violations.

In fact, in 2001 the Marin DA successfully sued the Novato Charter School Board of Directors (ironically also a Waldorf inspired school and referenced in the charter petition) for Brown Act violations. The court found against the charter school for legal costs, threatened fines and jail time for future violations, and imposed an injunction on its decision to fire a teacher in a closed door meeting. This was reportedly the first known Brown Act violation found against a California charter school. (Marin IJ, July 10, 2001) Let's hope LWIP doesn't become the second by recognizing the untransparent manner in which they carried out the charter petition process and quickly rescind their proposal.

In fact, one solution to the latest grievance that supposedly triggered the charter petition is the denial of tenure for my daughter's beloved and talented teacher Bill Kobabe. Despite having received about 30 letters asking for the Board to reconsider their decision, no action has been taken or publicly reported. The LWIP AC might better withdraw the charter petition and investigate whether a Brown Act complaint is warranted on this matter.

By the same token, the Board of Trustees could go a long way to defusing the current conflict and remove an impetus for the charter petition by reconsidering its denial of tenure to Mr. Kobabe. He reportedly had a positive evaluation by principal Laura Shain and is a dedicated educator with an incredible depth of knowledge in many fields of learning. My daughter has grown tremendously in the nearly two years she has been his student. Keeping Mr. Kobabe would also stabilize our Waldorf Program. It would allow us to keep our children with the same teacher through 5th grade which is crucial to the Waldorf method of learning in which a student follows their teacher through most, if not all, of grades 1 to 8.

-----

Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. • PO Box 176 • Woodacre, CA 94973

415 xxx xxxx

rfovetz [ at ] riseup.net 

_______________________________________________

April 23, 2012

Marin County District Attorney
3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 130
San Rafael, California 94903

Attention: Senior Inspector Carl Chapman

Re: complaint regarding possible violations of the Brown Act, Govt. Code §§ 54950-54960.5

Senior Inspector Carl Chapman,

I wish to file a complaint about a possible violation of the Brown Act, Govt. Code §§ 54950-54960.5 at the Lagunitas School District. In February 2012, the Administrative Council of the Lagunitas Waldorf Inspired Program (LWIP) at San Geronimo Elementary School publicly announced that it had been working for months on a proposal to turn the program into an independent charter school. As you will see from the attached correspondence, I have been attempting since March 12, 2012 to obtain copies of the draft charter petition, consultant contracts, and all other related documents being discussed, prepared, and decided upon by the LWIP Administrative Council of the Lagunitas School District. (See attached March 12 and 15 emails) As a parent in LWIP I sought to obtain these documents and have a public discussion of and vote on the charter petition in order to better inform myself about the charter proposal before signing it. Unfortunately, the LWIP Administrative Council did not issue agendas listing the charter issue in advance, allowed for almost no discussion, never took a recorded vote, and has never released the charter petition and other relevant documents in either draft or final form to any parent other than those on the AC before it was turned into the District Board of Trustees on April 17, 2012. The District posted the charter petition on the District website on April 19^th. For these reasons, I wish to file a complaint that the Administrative Council, which may be considered a formal body and/or committee of the district, has violated by the Brown Act for the reasons identified below.

The Administrative Council (AC) announced to the parents in the program that it had been working on a charter proposal for a number of months in a February 29, 2012 memo handed out at the meeting. The printed agenda for the February 29^th meeting was not distributed in advance but at the meeting and made no mention of the charter petition. (See attached AC memo) In all, the AC’s deliberations on this issue were not publicly announced to the parent body in advance of this initial meeting (see attached February 26 email), no vote recorded, the media does not appear to have been notified, the public (LWIP parents, all of whom are members of the Parent Council which elects the AC) was not allowed to address the Administrative Council on the issue at all during meetings on March 4^th and April 5^th (the listed March 14^th meeting was cancelled). No document was distributed until the April 5^th meeting and that was only a draft charter petition. A single complete printed copy of the final copy of the petition was made available for signing only on April 14^th but there was no discussion of or vote on the petition at that “meeting.” When I attempted to read the printed version it was forcibly removed from my hands and I was told to leave. Individual copies of all relevant documents were withheld despite my requests. (See attached email exchange with AC member Matt Andrews) No agenda identifying the topics to be discussed were included in either the February 26^th or March 1^st email announcements. (sSee attached emails)

According to your “Board and Commission Brown Act_0109_.doc” on your website I believe that the LWIP Administrative Council (AC) could be considered subject to the Brown Act for the following reasons:

 

1.     The AC serves as a formal advisory and decisionmaking committee governed by the Board of Trustees. The AC interviews and proposes the hiring of LWIP teachers and interviews, hires and funds class aides who are formally hired and managed by the District. This would make the AC subject to the Brown Act as a “legislative body” under your classification 1.D. that is permanent and both advisory and decisionmaking.

2.     The AC prepares and submits a budget to the District and LWIP parents and decides how to spend parent donations which are held and dispersed by the District. This would make the AC subject to the Brown Act as a “standing committee” under your classification 1.E. because it has “continuing jurisdiction over particular subject matter (e.g., budget, finance, legislation)….”

3.     The AC operates as an advisory body to the District staff and Board of Trustees under Frazer v. Dixon Unified School District, 18 Cal.App.4th 781, 792-93 (3d Dist. 1993), “in which the California Court of Appeal held that a committee charged with following up on parental complaints about textbooks was subject the Brown Act because its formation was called for by district policy established by the school board, even though the task of appointing members was left to the superintendent. The ‘creation’ by ‘formal action’ occurs when a legislative body establishes a policy calling for committee advice; who designates the members makes no difference.”[1]

4.     The AC has access to and uses personal email addresses and other contact information to communicate with parents in the program. These email addresses are obtained from the District and held by and used the AC to communicate official District and program business.

5.       The AC is elected by the parent body at a Parent Council meeting and includes all teaching staff as members, and is recognized as a formal advisory body of LWIP program.

6.      In March 12, March 13, March 15 (2), March 20, and March 21, 2012 emails, the AC confirmed that the AC wrote, discussed and voted on the charter petition. (See attached emails)

7.     Lastly, because Lagunitas School District Trustee Richard Sloan is often in attendance of AC meetings he could be considered as to have used the AC as an official advisory committee.

In the ways outlined above, the LWIP Administrative Council (AC) appears to act and function as a formally recognized, and perhaps even formally established, legislative body and/or standing committee of the Board of Trustees and the District. While AC members are elected by the LWIP parents the AC functions as a formal advisory and decisionmaking committee concerning finances, hiring and academics that are governed by the Board of Trustees. Many of the attached emails from members of the AC cited above clearly demonstrate that the charter petition was discussed, voted on, and written by the AC although they have refused to make their deliberations public.

On April 11, 2012 members of the AC filed papers registering the San Geronimo Valley Charter School (SGVCS) as a California Non-profit Public Benefit Corporation with the California Secretary of State. The bylaws list six current LWIP AC members as elected members of the board of directors with terms ending 10/1/13 and 10/1/14.[2] However, there was no meeting concerning forming this corporation, no agenda was issued, no discussion occurred, and no vote on the board of directors despite the fact that Art VII, Sect 3 Board of Directors states that “All directors shall be elected by the San Geronimo Valley Charter School Parent Council.” According to First Amendment Project and the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, this would appear to be a violation of the Brown Act which applies to “Governing bodies of non-profit corporations formed by a public agency or which includes a member of a covered board and receives public money from that board. (§54952(c)).”[3] Since the SGVCS was formed by the LWIP Administrative Council and has a yet unnamed member appointed by the Lagunitas School District Board of Trustees it would appear that it is subject to the Brown Act.

I wish to draw your attention to the fact that this charter petition is coming up for a vote by the District Board of Trustees. The charter petition has already appeared on the agenda of the Board of Trustees on April 17^th, will appear on the agenda of the May 10^th meeting, and is expected to be voted on by the Board of Trustees on June 12^th.

For these reasons, I urge you to investigate possible violations of the Brown Act by the lack of transparency, denial of access to crucial information and documents, and the absence of an agenda, public discussion and recorded vote on the charter petition.

I look forward to your immediate attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. (LWIP parent)

Enc.

---

[1] See First Amendment Coalition, “Nature, Purpose and Scope of the Brown Act,” http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/brown-act/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-brown-act/nature-purpose-and-scope-of-the-brown-act/#Heading8

 

[2] See the by laws included in the charter petition, p. 133, at http://lagunitas.marin.k12.ca.us/SGVCS-Petition.pdf

[3] First Amendment Project and the Northern California Society of Professional Journalist, Pocket Guide to Open Meeting Laws in California, www.thefirstamendment.org/Brown-Act-Brochure-DEC-03.pdf

Send in your questions about the charter school petition by May 4th

The first key date to put into your calendar is 12:00 p.m. Friday, May 4, 2012, the deadline to submit questions which will be answered by the District staff and attorney. You must submit your questions on the form below. Answers to the questions will be presented at the May 10th board meeting.

Keep in mind that the best approach for writing your questions are to frame them in terms of one of the 5 categories by which the District may vote to deny the petition. I will be addressing these 5 categories in coming posts. 

Anyone who has questions and concerns about turning LWIP into a charter school should attend the May 10th and June 12th meetings so that the board can hear your concerns.

A petition against the charter school is also in the works and will be widely circulated in the coming days. Factsheets identifying problems with the charter petition will also be available soon.

--------

 

LAGUNITAS SCHOOL DISTRICT

COMMUNITY LETTER RE: CHARTER SCHOOL PETITION REVIEW PROCESS

April 17, 2012

Dear Community,

At its meeting of April 17, 2012, the Lagunitas School District Board of Trustees received a Charter School Petition from the Waldorf Inspired Program.  Hard copies of the petition will be available in each school office beginning on Thursday, April 19, 2012.  A hard copy will be given to each program group in the District, to the Lagunitas Teachers Association and the members of the Classified Staff CSEA Unit #749. The petition will be posted online on the school website at http://lagunitas.marin.k12.ca.us.

A Special Meeting is scheduled for May 10, 2012 beginning at 5:30 p.m. 

·       The first hour of the meeting will be a question and answer period.  The District is inviting the public to submit written questions to the Board, using the form developed for that purpose (form on the next page).  This form will be available at either school office and online on the school website – http://lagunitas.marin.k12.ca.us. You may drop off your questions to either school office; fax them to 415-488-9617; mail them to PO Box 308, San Geronimo, CA  94963 or email them to Amy Prescott, Business Manager (aprescott@marin.k12.ca.us) or to Donna Henderson, Administrative Assistant (donnah@marin.k12.ca.us ).   The deadline for questions to be submitted is 12:00 p.m. Friday, May 4, 2012.

·       The second hour of the Special Meeting will be a Public Hearing.  During this hearing, members of the public are invited to give public testimony or comment on the charter petition. Comments will be limited to 2 minutes each. Individuals who are unable to attend the public hearing are invited to submit written comments to the Board of Trustees.

The Board of Trustees will make a final decision regarding the charter school petition at its regular meeting of June 12, 2012.

Sincerely,

Larry Enos
Superintendent

LAGUNITAS SCHOOL DISTRICT
PO BOX 308
SAN GERONIMO, CA  94963

CHARTER SCHOOL PETITION QUESTION FORM

Your Name: ___________________________________________________________

Your telephone number: _________________________________

Directions: 

1.     Please make your question as specific as possible.

2.      Use one form for each question. 

3.     Questions must be received by May 4, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. 

4.     Administration will try to answer all questions to the best of their ability and will group questions that are similar.

Your question:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There is no legal non-profit corporation

In my last posting I noted that the Board of Directors of the non-profit corporation that plans to run the school was self-appointed. Although the bylaws were submitted to the state there is no evidence that the non-profit has even been recognized by the IRS. All non-profits must receive what is known as an IRS letter in order to function. No IRS letter was submitted with the charter petition and so the non-profit cannot yet be said to even exist and cannot be considered as the applicant. In effect, the charter petition was submitted by the LWIP Administrative Council (AC). This is an important detail to note to the District's attorney who referred to the applicant as a non-profit corporation at the April 17th board meeting when there isn't any evidence that one yet exists.

In either case, this may be an issue for the Marin DA to investigate for any possible Brown Act violations by either the AC or non-profit since both organizations appear to have operated without adhering to laws and principles of transparency, good governance, and accountability.

Another missing vote

If you haven't begun to plow through the charter petition yet I find it great reading. It seems that my fellow LWIP Administrative Council parents decided to set up a non-profit corporation and included the by laws in the charter petition. Note the listing of 6 members of the board of directors (all also members of the Administrative Council) whose terms run through October 1, 2013 and October 1, 2014 (pg. 133).

The funny thing is they apparently forgot to have an election and have just appointed themselves to these positions. According to their bylaws all members of the board of directors must be elected by the charter school Parent Council. As far as I know there was no election. We parents were never given a copy of these bylaws, no agenda issued, there was no discussion, and of course no vote.

The self-appointments continue, this time with far more at stake with nearly $1.8 million in public tax money to be given to the charter school in its first three year projected budget—if it gets approved. Before they learn how to spend that much money responsibly they appear to need some lessons in how to actually hold a vote.

Teacher responds to misleading claims in 4/20 anonymous email

On April 20th you may have read an email posted to WM Soapbox by an apparent anonymously signed "Cherished Meadow" presumably writing as a representative of our Lagunitas Waldorf Inspired Program. Meadow's email was in response to a letter I have not yet received and is rife with omissions and a serious factual mistake about the Open Classroom's previous discussions about going charter. What follows is a response by Open Classroom teacher Larry Nigro who has given me permission to republish here. I hope this begins a calm and informed discussion in the comment section below about these issues. 

Unlike Cherished Meadow I hope that all who join this discussion will disclose their real name. Afterall, anonymous claims leave one to wonder about their veracity and validity as well as the credibility of those on whose behalf they speak.

------

No charter!!! 

As a twenty-three year Lagunitas School District Open Classroom teacher once involved in the discussion about Open Charter, I feel compelled to respond to Cherished Meadow's posting. To use the San Geronimo Open Classroom as an argument for the Waldorf charter movement is ridiculous.   The Open Classroom involved the school community, administration and all the Open Classroom parents in discussion about a possible charter from the  beginning, well before any sixty day deadline.  The Open Classroom never came close to presenting a petition when we saw how negative it would be to both us and the District.   As a full-time teacher, I was always opposed to the Open Classroom charter, but others explored it because the District had not been granting seniority to two of our teachers who had worked there for, as I recall, about eight years and frankly some members of our community were interested in the charter grant. 

But when we saw so how much going charter meant we would be separated from the rest of the District, we all decided to drop the charter idea.  Again we never presented a petition.  Eventually, we were able to grant our teacher's seniority. 

I still teach there and we never regretted this step. 

Two key differences between 2002 and now.   1. The Waldorf Academic Council appears to be much less inclusive than the Open that met with the entire parent body and administration in large meetings from the beginning.  It a shame that in the recent school board appointment the Waldorf parent running for school board chose to keep quiet about the charter movement.  The community deserved that discussion.

2.  We were a revenue spending district and would have receive money for any student attending our District even for out of District.  Today we are a Basic aide district and the District will receive 0 money for out of district students.  The District would write a check for $5,100 to the Waldorf, plus the Waldorf charter has asked for $165,00 in additional money next year straight out of the District budget with no backfill.  Open would have never even uttered the words charter if we had been basic aide. 

The charter is a divisive movement that will result in less money for the District children.  Please let your Board members know that this is not what you want your parcel tax and property tax to go for. Community opposition is crucial to support our great Board of Trustees in voting NO!! And please attend the May 10 meeting. The information is posted below.  And thanks for being a community that supports public schools. 

Larry Nigro 1/2 grade teacher Lagunitas School District

A Special Meeting is scheduled for May 10, 2012 beginning at 5:30 p.m. • The first hour of the meeting will be a question and answer period. The District is inviting the public to submit written questions to the Board, using the form developed for that purpose (form on the next page). This form will be available at either school office and online on the school website – http://lagunitas.marin.k12.ca.us.

You may drop off your questions to either school office; fax them to 415-488-9617; mail them to PO Box 308, San Geronimo, CA 94963 or email

Public Records Act request submitted

Today I submitted the following request for all records concerning planning and communications about the charter school petition submitted to the Board of Trustees this Tuesday, April 17th. The District has 10 days to respond to the request. I encourage others in the San Geronimo Valley community to file requests for any other relevant information not covered by my request. I will be reporting on what is made available to me in future postings.

----

Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. • PO Box 176 • Woodacre, CA 94973

415 xxx xxxx

rfovetz [at]  riseup.net 

_______________________________________________

April 18, 2012

Lagunitas School District

Larry Enos, Superintendent

PO Box 308

San Geronimo, CA 94963

Re: Public Records Act Request

Dear  Larry,

Pursuant to my rights under the California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250 et seq.), I ask to inspect and/or obtain a copy of the following held by your agency: all documents, electronic, print or otherwise, including but not limited to emails, attachments, notes, transcripts, meeting agendas and programs, expense reimbursements, phone logs, and calendar entries by all staff, Trustees, consultants, contractors, and members of the Lagunitas Waldorf Inspired Program (LWIP) Administrative Council concerning the proposal by the LWIP Administrative Council to established a charter school.

I ask for a determination on this request within 10 days of your receipt of it, and an even prompter reply if you can make that determination without having to review the record[s] in question.

If you determine that any or all or the information qualifies for an exemption from disclosure, I ask you to note whether, as is normally the case under the Act, the exemption is discretionary, and if so whether it is necessary in this case to exercise your discretion to withhold the information.

If you determine that some but not all of the information is exempt from disclosure and that you intend to withhold it, I ask that you redact it for the time being and make the rest available as requested. In any event, please provide a signed notification citing the legal authorities on which you rely if you determine that any or all of the information is exempt and will not be disclosed.

If I can provide any clarification that will help expedite your attention to my request, please contact me at 415-xxx-xxxx or rfovetz  [at] riseup.net.

I ask that you notify me of any duplication costs exceeding $5.00 before you duplicate the records so that I may decide which records I want copied.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

                        Robert Ovetz, Ph.D.

Shut up and sign

Attending the LWIP Parent Council meeting today I found it wasn't a meeting at all. Called there to sign the petition I found virtually no opportunity to even read the petition. Rather, we parents were expected to sign the more than 100 page petition, schmooze and move on. There were two copies available for us to read, one on an old laptop that was missing the appendix with dozens of pages of crucial budget data and a printed version with signature pages. I read parts of the electronic version and after waiting my turn began to read the appendix in the printed version. However, I gave up the ring binder for two fellow parents to sign. Seconds after getting it back Matt Andrews literally yanked the ring binder out of my hands while I was reading and yelled at me to leave and then turned his back on me.

It appears to me that this "meeting" was set up for us parents to sign and move along. There was no discussion, no debate, and only a few people actually reading the petition. The aura of "trust us" was heavy in the air. Telling me to leave exhibits not only intolerance for questions and discussion but also a troubling sense of entitlement, even ownership. But such arrogance is a bit premature. Hiring expensive corporate lawyers and consultants to get your way may buy you a petition but it won't necessarily win you a public willing to voluntarily hand over the valuable prize of a public school.

There also appeared to be some possible irregularities with how parents were being asked to sign. Parents were told to list children they expected to enroll in the future and spouses were being told that only one needed to sign per child. Also, since the petition was in a ring binder and not hard bound the signature pages could easily be removed at any time.

A question of whether the AC and PC may be covered by the Brown Act may warrant further investigation by the Marin County DA. If subject to the Brown Act the entire process of drafting and deciding on the charter petition may have neglected to properly announce meetings and issue agendas in advance, make public what happened at the meetings, and make the documents publicly accessible.

I did manage to glean some serious issues of concern from the petition which I plan to analyze further when I do obtain a full copy of the petition. That, sadly, will not be forthcoming from my fellow parents.

LWIP parents being asked to sign the charter petition virtually sight unseen

Yesterday, April 12th, an email (reprinted below) was sent to all LWIP parents urging us to show up at a three hour meeting tomorrow to sign the charter petition. It is puzzling why after working on the petition for many months we are being told to hurry up and sign it on a Saturday afternoon during Spring break only four days before it appears on the school board agenda this Tuesday. Even the much shorter US constitution took nearly six months to be printed, read, debated and ratified. We are getting 3 hours.

I hope this announcement will give pause to my fellow LWIP parents. All we have been shown is a single printed draft circulated at the last April 5th Parent Council meeting (which I was unable to attend). I was told that the petition is estimated to be more than 100 pages long. I have asked to see this and other relevant documents but have been denied several times.

Effectively we are being asked to sign a petition virtually sight unseen. Who signs anything so important, so critical to their own child's education without even being able to read, analyze, and discuss it? This is an extremely worrisome preview to the way these same self-selected parents plan to run the proposed charter school. Not only has this process been completely un-transparent but it should be evaluated by the Marin County District Attorney to determine if it has been done in violation of the Brown Act which sets strict Open Meeting rules for public agencies and related committees.

------

On 4/12/12 9:06 PM, Greg Brown/Jen Rousseau wrote:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Sophie Clark <philosophierose@gmail.com>

Date: April 12, 2012 3:06:55 PM PDT

To: JenGreg2000@gmail.com

Subject: Please Forward: [LWIP] Charter Signing Potluck this Saturday, April 14th (12-3pm)

Jen please forward: if you can make the subject look more flashy and important please do!!!!

Attention LWIP Families!!!!!

The Time has come to Celebrate and Sign the Charter Petition!!!!!!

Come this Saturday, April 14th 2012

noon to 3pm

Upper Campus, Room 2 of the LWIP

Bring a dish, drinks, etc. to share and your own dishes and utensils

Be there and enjoy!

P.S. Your attendance is much appreciated and will make collecting the signatures for the Petition efficient. Remember the Petition goes on April 17th. So no time to waste.

The myth of charter schools

Former Bush I Department of Education Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush Diane Ravitch has been working for the past several years to explode the myths that charter schools, stripped of public control yet still funded by the public, improve education. In her Nov. 11, 2010 NY Review of Books article "The myth of charter schools" in which Ravitch dissects the recent propaganda film "Waiting for Superman" she notes that charter schools fail at more than twice the rate of public schools. A pro-charter school study conducted by a Stanford professor progress on math tests "concluded that 17 percent were superior to a matched traditional public school; 37 percent were worse than the public school; and the remaining 46 percent had academic gains no different from that of a similar public school. The proportion of charters that get amazing results is far smaller than 17 percent.Why did Davis Guggenheim pay no attention to the charter schools that are run by incompetent leaders or corporations mainly concerned to make money?"

But the real clincher of Ravitch's analysis applies to my fellow LWIP parents: "Why propound to an unknowing public the myth that charter schools are the answer to our educational woes, when the filmmaker knows that there are twice as many failing charters as there are successful ones? Why not give an honest accounting."

The same honest accounting would apply to the LWIP charter proposal which appears to be backed by a Walmart and Gates foundation funded law firm and lobbyist groups which have been mired in a number of scandals with failed and even corrupt charter schools that have failed and closed across California which I will be reporting on in future postings. In fact, one charter in Oakland failed just days ago due to apparent embezzlement of $1 million. We should take heed to Ravitch's warnings:

"The propagandistic nature of Waiting for “Superman” is revealed by Guggenheim’s complete indifference to the wide variation among charter schools. There are excellent charter schools, just as there are excellent public schools. Why did he not also inquire into the charter chains that are mired in unsavory real estate deals, or take his camera to the charters where most students are getting lower scores than those in the neighborhood public schools? Why did he not report on the charter principals who have been indicted for embezzlement, or the charters that blur the line between church and state? Why did he not look into the charter schools whose leaders are paid $300,000–$400,000 a year to oversee small numbers of schools and students?" The un-transparent behavior of my fellow parents pushing to turn our program into a charter school should be a warning to us all about how this could end up in a few years time.

Ravitch's recent book The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (New York: Basic Books, 2010) is a must read for all of us. It is not merely a warning about fraudulent education "reform" such as charter schools but also a lesson in what public schools are getting right—such as the small schools within a school we have built up for 3 decades in our own District.

Charter schools began as a means to facilitate new experiments in small schools within the public school context. Several decades later they are now the wedge into dismantling our public schools and transforming education into a profit making business especially for the expensive consultants, foundations, lawyers, and lobbyists who stand to profit by feeding at the public trough and suing to increasing their size of the pie.

Part II. Open letter to fellow Waldorf parents: Questions to consider before signing the charter petition

Last week I posted Part I of my open letter to fellow LWIP parents about a number of questions that need to be answered before we sign the charter petition. The following is the remainder of that open letter.

5.     Will forcing our children to take standardized tests contradict our values and damage their learning? The AC’s March 4^th memo says our children may be forced to take standardized tests. If so, how will that take away or undermine our Waldorf curriculum? How much time will teaching to the test take away from our core curriculum? What are the risks of our school being sanctioned and shut down if the test scores are too low or too many students do not take them?

6.     What will our maximum class size be? Are we going to have 30+ kids in our classes as one of the Waldorf charters in Petaluma has?

7.     Who are the consultants the AC has hired, have they been paid with LWIP parent donation funds, what have they been promised, and do they have any conflicts of interest? The March 4^th memo says that the Administrative Counsel (AC) has been working on this for a number of months, raised money and has hired consultants. I understand the AC is working or has worked with the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) and a lawyer to prepare the petition, feasibility study and 3 year budget. When were these decisions made? When were they announced to the parents in the program? Who on the AC signed the contracts with the consultants? Do our bylaws authorize the AC to use LWIP money and sign contracts? Has LWIP money has been used to pay consultants? If so, who will reimburse the costs to LWIP? Who are the consultants? How much have the consultants been paid? Do they expect to be hired as consultants if we go charter? Who will make that decision? Who will pay them? Do these consultants have a conflict of interest or expect to be hired if we go charter?

8.     Does going charter contradict our values and principles? If the AC is being or has been advised by the CCSA shouldn’t it be disclosed that CCSA is funded by the Walton Family Foundation which was established by the Walton family that runs the Walmart corporation? Shouldn’t we also know that CCSA itself is run by a Walton family member? CCSA just received a $15 million grant from the Walton family foundation and more money from the Gates and Broad Foundations. All of these foundations are notable for their hostility to public schools and push standardized testing and computers in the classroom? Do we really want to be associated with a corporation that pay low wages and virtually no benefits to its employees, has underpaid its female employees for many years, and drives out small local businesses?

9.     Does hiring a lawyer contradict our values and principles?

Hiring a lawyer is inherently adversarial, confrontational, divisive, and extremely expensive. Did the AC hire Sacramento attorney Lisa A. Corr at $195 per hour to work on the petition? If so, our community should be informed that according to published accounts Ms. Corr’s law firm Middleton, Young & Minney LLP appears to work with CCSA and joined CCSA in several lawsuits by charter schools against their local school districts. Ms. Corr is listed as a “CCSA General Manager” on her law firms’ website. Her law firm is also a major sponsor of CCSA’s recent charter school conference. We should also be asking Ms. Corr if her firm is also directly connected with the Walton Family Foundation in any way. What are the consequences of aligning ourselves with organizations with values that appear to be fundamentally counter to the Waldorf approach?

10.     Would going charter reduce the amount of money per student in our program and District wide? As a charter school wouldn’t we receive significantly less—as much as 50% less—per student than we now receive? To make the charter work wouldn’t we need to take in more students? But wouldn’t taking in more students from Basic Aid districts like ours give us no extra money? And wouldn’t our program get significantly less money for students from all other districts (these details were given by Superintendent Larry Enos at the 3/20/12 board meeting). Would the District have to contribute money to pay for each new out of district transfer student thereby reducing funding for all the other programs? What would be the impact on our children be if we had a bigger enrollment and less money per student? How would we make up the gap? Would we have larger classes, cut teacher pay and benefits or less specialty teachers? How will we make up the $45 lost for each absence per day—about $6,000 per month at our current approximate 15% absentee rate—that we do not currently lose as part of the District?

11.     How would the charter be run? What are the bylaws and articles of incorporation? Who wrote them or will write them? When will they be submitted to the parents for discussion, amendments, and a vote?

12.     Which state open meetings laws must a charter follow? Will we comply with the Brown Act (open meetings law)? Doesn’t an elected Trustee need to be on the charter board for the charter to covered by the Brown Act? How will decisions be made? Will we need to form a new board? If so, will it be elected? Who will run the election? Who will be in charge of making sure we comply with the complex state education code? 

13.  Would going charter weaken our public school district as a whole? If the District will have to provide extra funds for each new out of district transfer student will we be taking away resources from the other 2 programs and the middle school?

14.  Would going charter generate further animosity and tensions between our program and the other programs? How do parents in the other two elementary programs feel about our potentially going charter? Is anyone already experiencing animosity and opposition?

15.  What will our admissions policy be and who will decide it? Will existing students and in-District families have priority? Will there be a lottery?

16.  How will our school fund everything we now get from the District? How will we pay for the classrooms, school bus, subsidized and free lunches some of our children now receive, school nurse, psychologist, counseling, and remediation, and services for children with special needs? If these costs go up will there be pressure for these children to leave the school?

17.  Will we parents have to do a lot of work ourselves that ordinarily would be done by the District? Being such a small program with a lot of work to do already what can we expect to have to take on and who will do it?

18.  Would we parents be required to donate more money to cover the gap between our declining public funding and what we offer? If so, how much do we raise now, where has the money been spent and how much more will we have to spend on other necessities beyond what we cover now? Will our donations have to cover renting the classrooms, counseling, lunches, etc as well as Spanish and handwork, etc?

19.  Would remaining on the campus isolate and generate animosity towards our children? Will our children be ostracized or put in harms way?

20.  Would we have to hire an administrator to do all the administrative jobs now done by District staff? Will our program have to hire an administrator? Will our school have to subcontract out this work? Who will do it? How much will they be paid? Will parents be expected to do the work? How much will new administrative expenses take away money from our children in the classroom? If so, who will hire, fire, discipline and pay these people? Who will write the job description, employee handbook, etc. If we currently have contracted consultants, do they expect to be hired as the administrator?

21.  Who will handle the accounting and budgeting? In the 1.5 years we have been in this program I have not received one balance sheet to see how our funds are being spent despite asking that we have one several times. This is hard work that has yet to be done. Who will do the even harder work of handling the much larger budget our charter would have? What is the projected 3 year budget being drafted? Will this be discussed?

22.  Who will we hire, fire, discipline, and pay our teaching staff? The March 4^th memo says the program will have “more autonomy over faculty” in our program. What standards will our teachers need to meet? Will the teachers vote to remain in the teacher’s union? If not, who will do the complex work of negotiating a separate contract with them? Will we require the teaching staff to have Waldorf training? If so, will we pay for them to get it if necessary? How long will they have to complete the training?

23.  If the District votes against the charter petition would we continue to appeal over the heads of the District community? Would we then petition the County Board of Education and if unsuccessful there will it then go to the state? If so, who will make these decisions, how much will it cost, who will do the work, and will it generate more animosity from other parents in the District? 

Until these questions are discussed in a calm, careful and transparent manner and we parents are given a chance to change and vote on the charter petition I urge you to not sign the petition. We just do not know enough about what is being proposed, why it is being proposed, and the impacts on our children, the District and our families to turn our program into a charter.

Still no charter proposal documents for LWIP parents

We LWIP parents still have not received a copy of any documents regarding the charter proposal although it has been announced that the proposal will be on the agenda of the April 17th Board of Trustees meeting. Although an LWIP Parent Council meeting was called for last Thursday April 5th with the announced intention of presenting the charter petition to us parents only a single printed draft copy was circulated.

Charter would lose 46% funding per student

One reason that the District may consider rejecting the charter petition is that the charter could not maintain the integrity of our Waldorf program with 46% less resources. That's right, if LWIP goes charter we would receive about 46% less money per student. This calculation comes from data I received from the District's budget officer Amy Prescott via email this week.

According to Prescott, the District now spends $9400.00 per student. If LWIP were to become a charter sponsored by the District its funding would drop to $5077.00 per student for K-3 and $5153.00 for grades 4-6. No new funds would come for any out of district transfer students who come from a so-called Basic Aid district (which ours is) and only 70% from all other districts paid to the district, not the charter. Since the strategy of going charter is to bring in more students this would drain funds from all the other students in the District while reducing even further the money per student in LWIP.

This seems to be nothing short of a race to the bottom in funding and quality.

There is no way our program could maintain the full Waldorf oriented curriculum while absorbing such a huge budget cut. The only way out is for the program to take corporate grants from such pro-charter foundations as Gates and the Walton Family Foundation which would be counter to our principles, cut teacher pay to the bone, avoid accepting students with special needs (which is common policy among charters), eliminate free and reduced lunches, and pressure us parents to donate even more money to make up for the shortfall. In short, any of these approaches would move our program even closer to becoming a tax subsidized private school—the very goal of the corporate funded charter movement and I sadly suspect of some of my fellow LWIP parents.

Part I. Open letter to fellow Waldorf parents: Questions to consider before signing the charter petition

Before submitting the charter petition I hope that we Lagunitas Waldorf Inspired Program (LWIP) parents can have a substantive discussion about the many critical unanswered questions about going charter that are not currently being discussed. This process needs to be done in a transparent manner. All the relevant documents, contracts, and information should be shared with all fellow parents in our program before the petition is submitted to the board of trustees. This is critical so that a thorough discussion can take place and we parents have a chance to change and vote on the proposal. I hope that you will join me in having a balanced discussion about the questions I raise below to carefully consider all the very serious ramifications of going charter for our children, the District and our families. Until this happens I urge everyone with concerns to join me in not signing onto a charter petition in the works for a number of months that few of us have seen or read.

How many of us have read the charter proposal or have considered the potential impacts of forming a charter? I would venture that few of us have. Before we rush into such a drastic decision to fracture the District there are a number of crucial questions I have raised below that need to be considered by all the parents and teachers as a community. I missed the meeting at which it was announced that a group in our program have been working with consultants for several months to prepare a petition to turn LWIP into a charter school. I wish I had known what the topic was to be discussed that day but unfortunately no agenda for the meeting was sent out. I have concerns about how this process is proceeding. Because the April 5^th meeting is scheduled during the time I teach a class, I also am unable to attend. For this reason I am raising my questions in this email.

Many crucial questions remain for us to discuss and decide as a community before taking such a drastic step. Among these questions are what is the impact of becoming a charter on our children, the teachers and the rest of the District? Will it mean that we would have less money per student but all of the administrative responsibility? Who would run the charter and how will decisions about admissions, curriculum and hiring be made? Would it be divisive and generate more animosity among fellow parents? Do the AC’s advisors and consultants (who appear to be connected and/or funded by the Walton family which founded and runs the Walmart corporation) advocate a type of education that contradicts our own values and educational approach? If you would like to have a conversation about these issues please feel free to contact me or raise them at the meetings. I will continue to discuss this issue on this blog, Lagunitas School District Watch.

1.     Will we get to vote? Is this a fait accompli (a done deal)? Is this already decided or are we going to discuss and vote on whether to go charter? If I missed that, when was it announced, what was the outcome? How many parents voted? Who counted the vote? 

2.     When will we be asked to sign a petition supporting the petition to go charter? It was announced that the petition will be submitted for the April 17^th Board meeting. That is a bit more than just two weeks from now. But when will we parents receive the petition? Will we be able to make changes and amendments to it? How many have to sign it in order for the petition to be considered by the board?

3.     Have we considered other less divisive options? Can we work in more constructive ways to improve our situation in the District such as running more supportive candidates for the board to give us a voice? Last year we successfully organized to save our program. It was hard and long but we succeeded. Why can’t we continue on our success within the District? Why should we split off into a charter when we already have our program?

4.     Will all parents receive copies of all the critical documents before the charter petition is submitted to the board of trustees? I was told on March 12^th that I cannot read the consultant contracts, and draft petition, feasibility study, and budget being prepared. Why? Should we expect that this process be done in a transparent manner and that everyone have a say? Who is making this decision for us? 

 

My next postings will address my other 19 questions of concern. 

Until these questions are discussed in a calm, careful and transparent manner and we parents are given a chance to change and vote on the charter petition I urge you to not sign the petition. We just do not know enough about what is being proposed, why it is being proposed, and the impacts on our children, the District and our families to turn our program into a charter.