20 December 2012
EDUCATION: The Riverside Unified School District staff recommends denial of the charter school petition by the Carolyn E. Wylie Center for Children, Youth and Families.
By John Burke, Staff Writer
The center is a non-profit organization which focuses on providing services for children of ages zero to 18. A particular focus is placed on children with learning or emotional needs. The center received a public hearing on its SPARK Charter School Petition on November 13. The Board of Education assessed the evaluation of the facility and the staff recommendation on Monday, December 3 in a meeting at the Riverside Adult School.
Melody Amaral, Wylie Center CEO, said that she was surprised by the staff recommendation, since she thought that the petition had generated a lot of support with the public hearing and outside reviews.
The evaluation conducted by RUSD staff said that the petition “contains a number of errors, omissions and inconsistencies.” They believe that this suggests that the Center does not have an adequate understanding of what is required to run a public charter school.
Charter Schools operate with public money, but are not subject to many of the guidelines that govern most public schools. California school law gives education boards little wiggle room when accepting or declining a charter school petition. If the petition presents a sound educational and financial plan and meets legal requirements, then boards must accept it. But if there is a problem in any section of the petition, under no circumstances can the board approve the petition. Petitioners are allowed to withdraw their petition, and then re-submit a different edition.
RUSD members have also reported other reasons why they disapprove of the charter school proposal. The staff has pointed out that while the Wylie petitioners run well-respected special education programs, they do not have very much experience in running public schools. In addition, the new charter school would rent facilities from the Wylie center, and would have the same board as the center (as opposed to hiring a new board for the school). The staff have recited in their report that conflicts of interest would be likely, if not inevitable.