District makes it tough for charters
Supporters of proposed schools angered by bids to halt petitions, lure teachers
SAN JOSE — In an aggressive challenge to charter-school applicants, the San Jose Unified School District has sought to invalidate signatures of supporters, attempted to recruit teachers away from a proposed school and swept petitions off agendas before the school board could consider them.
Three charter petitions — to open a high school, middle school and a K-12 school in 201819 — have traveled a bumpy road this year.
A top San Jose Unified administrator and the teachers union president personally
made calls in late winter to verify the interest of teachers who had pledged to work for the proposed Perseverance Preparatory. Without mentioning the charter school or the reason for the calls, the two sought to recruit the teachers for district-run schools instead.
Parents supporting another charter, Promise Academy, said they found the verification calls confusing and the time frame rushed.
After invalidating supporters’ signatures, San Jose Unified postponed hearings earlier this year for Perseverance and for ACE, another proposed charter school — despite dozens of parents waiting to speak. On May 4, the school board rejected advice from its staff and conducted a hearing on Promise anyway, after furious parents demanded to be heard.
“We’ve never seen a district try and delay hearings like we have seen this district do,” said Brittney Parmley of the California Charter Schools Association.
Charter schools have long elicited impassioned responses from school districts and teachers unions that view them as a threat to public education by siphoning off students and funds, and from parents eager for an alternative to poor-performing neighborhood schools.
‘Clean process’
San Jose Unified’s deputy superintendent, Stephen McMahon, defended the checks for charter-school support. “When people know what they’re signing and they’re cognizant of what they’re getting into, the verification process goes pretty quick,” he said. “It was a clean process and it was open and fair,” he said about the calls early this month to parents who had signed Promise Academy’s petition.
In petitioning to open a charter school in a school district, operators must submit signatures of either parents willing to enroll their children or teachers planning to teach in the new school.
In February, San Jose Unified invalidated all the teacher signatures on a petition for a new ACE charter high school, ruling they didn’t count because the teachers already work for ACE, which runs five middle and high schools in San Jose.
“We were surprised because this was something that we didn’t know was going to be an issue,” said ACE Executive Director Greg Lippman. He pledged to collect signatures of parent supporters instead and return to the board.
For Perseverance Prep, a proposed grade-5through-8 school, the district rejected teacher signatures after it placed the recruiting phone calls.
“Your phone number was passed along to me as an excellent teacher who might be interested in joining the team in San Jose,” union President Jennifer Thomas is heard to say on a voice mail left for a teacher pledging support for Perseverance Prep. For teachers who asked how Thomas got their names and numbers, she said she didn’t remember who gave them to her.
Thomas said she didn’t intend to be disingenuous. “People said uniformly, I would love to talk to you about it,” she said. She interpreted that as proof that the teachers lacked commitment to join Perseverance.
In a voicemail left for a would-be Perseverance teacher, McMahon says, “It’s come to our attention that you are seeking employment opportunities for the school years ahead.” He concludes, “It would be great if you could give us a call today.”
McMahon stands by his calls, which he said were intended to discern the signers’ intent. The founding team of a charter school needs to demonstrate commitment, he said. Instead, teachers who signed the petition answered district calls with “I’m open to all sorts of options,” he said.
The tactics have left charter petitioners aghast and dismayed.
“We were pretty caught off-guard,” said Alexandria LeeNatali, lead founder of Perseverance Prep. After submitting a third batch of signatures, LeeNatali finally won a hearing May 4. A project of the nonprofit Building Excellent Schools, it proposes to offer rigorous academics, community service and teach ethical leadership to middle-schoolers.
For Promise Academy, the district said that only 52 of more than 300 parents who signed papers actually expressed “meaningful interest” as required by state law. The academy plans to partner with the Tech Museum in a downtown, pre-K-to-12 school.
‘Manipulating us’
Incensed parents, who repeatedly interrupted when the school board considered cutting them out of the agenda May 4, accused the district of trying to confuse and dismiss those who signed petitions.
“We feel that the district is manipulating us,” said Eva Heredia, a Promise supporter.
San Jose Unified board President Pam Foley responded angrily. “To accuse our really hardworking staff of deceit is disrespectful,” she said.
McMahon insisted that the district tried diligently to reach parents, that a Spanish-speaking employee contacted parents who spoke only Spanish and that many parents were misled not by the district but by Promise organizers.
The majority of parents, he said, “are not interested in Promise.”
Thomas, of the teachers union, lambasted the proposed charters, accusing Perseverance of having “a muddled instructional design” and Promise of planning “essentially a private school.”
Promise backers contend that there’s a dire need for quality education downtown. “My child has been failed by your district schools,” Adelita Gomez, who lives in the Empire Gardens neighborhood, told the school board.
Promise Academy founder Anthony Johnson said he wants the district to contact parent supporters who didn’t respond in its initial three-day window. The group needs 105 signatures to prove support for its school.
The board is set to consider the Perseverance petition on Thursday and the Promise petition in June.