Chino Valley charter supporters ask board to approve their school

A Charter school for high achieving students will be welcome once CVUSD can establish a proven record of success with a charter school for the low achieving students.

You cannot establish a charter school for only low performing students. Charter schools are for everyone, per ed code. There is no selection process, it is a lottery if the registered number of students exceeds the space at the school.

Another thing to point out is that charter schools are open to all students, not just residents of the city they reside in. So, who's to say that all of the students who attend OPA will be taken away from CVUSD? I personally reside in Corona. Also, no one affiliated with OPA has really responded to Calta's suggestion that El Rancho be the site for OPA because it is a non-issue. The school will be great regardless of location. I can't speak for others, but I know that I don't care which location the school opens at. Los Serranos was a first choice because of its size and modernization. The opening of OPA at El Rancho would not be a "punishment" for anyone at OPA, Marie. Nor should the teachers and administrators who back this charter be chastised for doing so. In this charter, teachers may find job stability. Something that we all know CVUSD (and many other districts) cannot provide much of right now because of budgetary issues. Their goal is to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability with more autonomy and less concern for bureaucratic budgetary issues. I remember less than a year ago, the school board was the target of so much ire for the budgetary issues, closure of schools, and layoff of outstanding teachers. Why is OPA taking so much heat for trying to remove so much conflict from education?

Read Carefully wrote:

<quoted text>Did you read what I read...I don't think so. Mr. Watts said nothing about these kids being low. All he did was point out the percentages of students...that is it! You are clearly attempting to stir the pot for your own personal agendas. Having a high population of Hispanics IS the issue...not that it is good or bad. The fact of the matter is more kids in the District are Hispanic than any other ethnic group. So yes, Rhodes' success with Hispanic students should absolutely be important to Hispanic families. In addition, your statement, "Please do not assume that because the kids are diverse, it shows that the school's program is what causes their success" is out of left field. Where was that ever stated. The school's diversity was simply pointed out, and he also stated it was a "testament" to parents, staff, and students and their hardwork. Geez!

I am not trying to stir any pots. When you say that the population is the issue, I invite you to look at the data just like Worried did. In EdData you compare all the schools according to population. Schools like Gird and El Rancho do improve. However, their EL population is much much greater than that 7% or Rhodes. The Hispanic population is quite different. In 2008 there were a total of 31 students that were ELD and spoke Spanish. That is only 5% of the school population. Gird on the other hand had 250 students that spoke Spanish and considered ELD. El Rancho had 281! YOU CANNOT COMPARE! When I said my children were Hispanic and at Rhodes, I was trying to make the point the being Hispanic does not make them part of a low socioeconomic or ELD group. There are different groups of people. The parents at Gird and El Rancho are parents who they themselves do not speak English and have a low education. The Hispanic parents at Rhodes have an education and speak English. I said that Mr. Watts points out the population trying to say that the reason those Hispanic kids do well is because of the school programs. While I am happy with the school, I am not going to discredit the time that as a parent I bring to my children's education. My kids were reading by the time they got to kindergarten. I really would like to see and challenge both Sue Roche and Jason Watts to do the same thing at schools like Borba, Dickson, Marshall and even Ramona Junior High. I am sure that the principal at Chaparral will have no problem letting Mr. Watts have his influence in the school if it could turn Chaparral into an above 900 school. Chaparral has almost the same number of Hispanic students as Rhodes. So from there we start at square one. However, Chaparral has 20% of ELD students. Bring it on!!!

Kristi wrote:

You cannot establish a charter school for only low performing students. Charter schools are for everyone, per ed code. There is no selection process, it is a lottery if the registered number of students exceeds the space at the school.
Another thing to point out is that charter schools are open to all students, not just residents of the city they reside in. So, who's to say that all of the students who attend OPA will be taken away from CVUSD? I personally reside in Corona. Also, no one affiliated with OPA has really responded to Calta's suggestion that El Rancho be the site for OPA because it is a non-issue. The school will be great regardless of location. I can't speak for others, but I know that I don't care which location the school opens at. Los Serranos was a first choice because of its size and modernization. The opening of OPA at El Rancho would not be a "punishment" for anyone at OPA, Marie. Nor should the teachers and administrators who back this charter be chastised for doing so. In this charter, teachers may find job stability. Something that we all know CVUSD (and many other districts) cannot provide much of right now because of budgetary issues. Their goal is to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability with more autonomy and less concern for bureaucratic budgetary issues. I remember less than a year ago, the school board was the target of so much ire for the budgetary issues, closure of schools, and layoff of outstanding teachers. Why is OPA taking so much heat for trying to remove so much conflict from education?

While I believe OPA will fullfill its charter, OPA will not be immune from the budget cuts from the state. When ADA funding is cut by the state by nearly 30%, just as it was over the last six months, California charter schools also saw their per pupil funding reduced. OPA is not immune from cuts from the state nor the "heat" from the public that inevitably results. This may be one reason OPA is seeking to open multiple schools in southern California to help spread out their administrative costs(http://missionviejodispatch.com/... ).

The extensive modernization of Los Serranos was paid for with Measure M bond funds which were approved by Chino Valley voters (2003) for new schools and modernizing and renovating existing schools for the benefit of "CVUSD STUDENTS."

El Rancho is a beautiful campus and more centrally located and closer to the capacity OPA is considering in Chino. It's good to hear OPA supporters are open to El Rancho.

Just want to chime in here Kristi. You only have to look at the two charter schools located in our community...Options for Youth. They primarily serve "under performing" students - in fact, because our district has limited options for low performing high school students to make up credits (continuation school is too full all the time, independent study has been cut back at all schools), these struggling students are leaving our district at a fast rate. Plus, they are taking the ADA (attendance money) with them. So, there are actually many charters that are designed for the "low performing" student. It was a smart move on these schools' part to open house here - it coincided with the 2.0 GPA requirement for graduation and the reduction of options for these struggling students to reach this goal. With the recent announcement of basically, no summer school for students - I would expect Options to open up a third site!

If I've done my research correctly, it sounds like charter schools can receive private funding and that they are public schools, therefore are open to students of every academic performance level.

Some of our bloggers(could be just one person with few ID names) is only fixated on the racial/social economic issue whenever we are discussing the kid's education at CVUSD. A typical loser's mentality can only hurt our students.

I still have some reservations on this new charter school... but now I am more leaning toward supporting it if it's opening in the city of Chino. I feel we can use more good schools with new ideas to represent our city.

CVUSD employee wrote:

Just want to chime in here Kristi. You only have to look at the two charter schools located in our community...Options for Youth. They primarily serve "under performing" students - in fact, because our district has limited options for low performing high school students to make up credits (continuation school is too full all the time, independent study has been cut back at all schools), these struggling students are leaving our district at a fast rate. Plus, they are taking the ADA (attendance money) with them. So, there are actually many charters that are designed for the "low performing" student. It was a smart move on these schools' part to open house here - it coincided with the 2.0 GPA requirement for graduation and the reduction of options for these struggling students to reach this goal. With the recent announcement of basically, no summer school for students - I would expect Options to open up a third site!

A charter school cannot be established to only serve a particular academic performance group, demographic, boundary, or subgroup. Kristi is correct in her statement. However some charters do have a history of serving under performing students particularly in more urban areas and many charters were started by activist groups with a "rescue" focus. This can be seen with the Parent Revolution taking root in LA Unified www.parentrevolution.org or the Green Dot Charter movement.

I think the larger point here is that a charter school is a School of Choice. Rather than the boundary choosing the student, as is the case with the current district boundary school format, with a charter school, the student chooses the school. With Options For Youth, the student has chosen that school because that school best meets that particular student's academic needs. CVUSD Employee stated several reasons above why Options For Youth was established and may continue to open more schools. Oxford Preparatory Academy, will offer a different academic program than Options for Youth. Should students find that OPA is a good fit it, is simply one more option available in our community for kids.

After all Chino is one of the "Top 100 Places for Kids", right?

Yes Carrie...I am really aware of Green Dot - they are having some mixed results but overall, it sounds like they do have parent and teacher support in many of the schools they operate.

Carrie B has my support. I want to see El Rancho being open again with full of happy students.

I personally have been paying taxes in this community for a very long time. My children are grown and my grandchildren are quickly coming of school age. So therefore, my personal interest is in the future and not immediate. I do however feel the state of education in California is of an urgent and most immediate condition. I am ashamed of how we as a population in this State have allowed our most precious future commodity to be sacrificed because politicians can't manage the jobs they have been elected to. I am in support of the Charter School simply because it offers a choice. Please place the choice of education back into the hands of the parents, let them choose, and finally take it back away from Sacramento. If you don't want to choose Oxford, then quite simply...don't choose Oxford. CVUSD still offers a wonderful education to its students. My final comment....no education is worthwhile if the parents don't get involved and support their schools and children.

Don wrote:

I personally have been paying taxes in this community for a very long time.
I am in support of the Charter School simply because it offers a choice. Please place the choice of education back into the hands of the parents, let them choose, and finally take it back away from Sacramento.
If you don't want to choose Oxford, then quite simply...don't choose Oxford. CVUSD still offers a wonderful education to its students.
My final comment....no education is worthwhile if the parents don't get involved and support their schools and children.

Amen to every you say ... except I somewhat disagree with the "wonderful education" part. I agree that in some schools and in some teachers - absolutely amazing education.

But there are too many mediocre, one-size-fits-all, union protected teachers - in addition to the burdens that come from Sacramento. In those instances, CVUSD falls very short.

Just my opinion.

Jackie, I guess my family was just very fortunate -my two kids have had wonderful teachers from k - 12. Even with the "burdens from Sacramento" - they were dedicated, hard working and really cared. I would even say that the Principals also worked very hard as well!

Jackie and Concerned Parent, both of your statements and your experiences are true. Both serve as evidence to support the school of choice model. District neighborhood schools in most cases will continue to serve students well, as they have for generations. OPA is simply another option.