Updated: School trustees will shutter Gilroy’s only charter
school, which has been embroiled in academic, management and legal
troubles. The decision came despite pleas from school
administrators and spurred some students to break into tears.
Gilroy
School trustees will shutter Gilroy’s only charter school, which has been embroiled in academic, management and legal troubles. The decision came despite pleas from school administrators and spurred some students to break into tears.
After a two-hour discussion that caused one student to walk out of the board room sobbing, Gilroy Unified School District trustees voted 6-1 for Superintendent Deborah Flores to initiate the charter-revocation process of El Portal Leadership Academy. In the motion, trustees cited El Portal’s administrators’ failure to submit a balanced budget, failure to meet enrollment projections laid out in the school’s charter, fiscal mismanagement and possibly illegal actions as reasons for closing the school – operated by the Mexican American Community Service Agency.
“The only option I see as feasible is to provide our formal notice of revocation,” board president Javier Aguirre concluded, holding up a copy of the school’s charter. “I believe MACSA has not met those goals laid out in the charter.”
A recent district audit, which cost $10,000, revealed that the agency had skimmed $140,000 from El Portal employees’ retirement accounts. While the organization has paid back about $103,000 to its Gilroy employees, it also had a debt of $250,000 owed to teachers at its San Jose charter school, Academia Calmecac, and sources revealed that the organization owes comparable amounts to its non-school employees. The agency is scheduled to make a $20,000 payment to El Portal employees later this month and plans to be caught up by the end of June.
In addition, a district report showed that El Portal students are performing far below their Gilroy High School counterparts. Only 34 percent of El Portal 10th graders passed the language arts portion of the high school exit exam, compared to 78 percent at GHS, according to district data. On the math portion, 43 percent passed at El Portal compared to 80 percent at GHS. El Portal has a 62.6 percent four-year dropout rate while GHS has a 9 percent dropout rate and Mount Madonna Continuation High School has an 11.1 percent dropout rate, according to the California Department of Education. El Portal’s truancy rate is 74.39 percent, compared to GHS’s rate of 8.72 percent and Mount Madonna’s 0.57 percent, according to the state.
Trustee Denise Apuzzo said the school’s financial and academic state was “unacceptable” and that she saw no other choice than revocation. Trustees considered several other options including a proposal that was added late at the request of MACSA. Although trustee Fred Tovar – who cast the sole dissenting vote – urged trustees to keep an open mind, they quickly struck down an option calling for shared management of El Portal between the school district and MACSA and then axed another option that would have placed MACSA on notice and required they abide by certain guidelines. Several trustees vehemently opposed the last-minute option MACSA proposed – which asked for a transitional year before bringing on a new, yet unnamed, chartering partner.
About two dozen El Portal teachers, students and MACSA administrators quickly filed out of the GUSD boardroom following the vote. A group of girls cried and hugged each other in the lobby of the school district’s office, a teacher hanging back to comfort them.
During the meeting, MACSA Chief Executive Officer Olivia Soza-Mendiola said the school could be a “model program” with the help of a new chartering partner.
“Our hope is that if this idea is considered, it would be for myself and for the community and people we’re serving, a softer transition for the school,” she said. “I believe this option puts the least amount of stress on everybody.”
When asked how the option might impact incoming freshman, Soza-Mendiola said that during the transitional year, the agency was looking at the idea of not bringing in a freshman class. She said recruiting has been “very difficult,” lately, given publicity regarding the school’s troubles.
Although some trustees were open to considering the option and Tovar said he “really liked” the idea, trustees struck the option down.
“I can’t put my faith in an entity that does not exist,” trustee Rhoda Bress said. If another agency wanted to come forward and apply for a charter, they should, she said.
In further support of El Portal, supporters and Tovar argued that other district schools are not suited to meet the needs of the school’s unique population – the majority of whom are Hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged.
“These students will not transition easily to GHS,” one teacher told trustees. “The students I have come to know have problems they have brought with them from the Gilroy Unified School District schools.”
“I have a problem with the concept that students can only succeed at El Portal,” trustee Tom Bundros said. “The concept limits them. It almost anticipates failure.”
After trustee Mark Good made the motion to close El Portal and Apuzzo seconded it, a brief squabble erupted between Good and trustee Francisco Dominguez. Dominguez said he was bothered by the way Good presented the motion – which included wording about the school’s “fiscal mismanagement,” “failure to meet enrollment projections” and “violation of laws” – saying that maybe they weren’t having the same conversation.
“I mentioned all these points during the conversation,” Good said, turning to Dominguez, who sits immediately to his right. “I don’t know if you weren’t listening to me Mr. Dominguez … but there has to be a basis.”
Other trustees said they understood the motion and heard components of it during the conversation.
“I’m very comfortable with all the items that were listed,” Bress said.
“It was my misunderstanding,” Dominguez ceded.
To shaking heads in the audience, trustees approved the motion. They included a caveat instructing Flores to chart out a transitional plan for the 100 students who could be affected by the school’s closure.
“I would strongly direct the superintendent to make sure these students are monitored,” Bundros said. “We need to make sure they are given every opportunity to succeed.”
Although several students and teachers took to the podium during the public comment portion of the discussion, they declined comment after the meeting. Soza-Mendiola has also repeatedly refused comment.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education has also brought in the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to conduct an investigation of MACSA’s two charter schools. Representatives from FCMAT and the County Office of Education recently met with both schools and expect to have a draft in as soon as eight weeks, said Larry Slonaker, spokesman for the County Office of Education. The District Attorney is waiting for the Office of Education’s report before making a decision about prosecution.
An item titled ‘Authorization to Issue Notice of Remedy to MACSA Academia Calmecac Charter School’ was on the last East Side Union High School District board meeting agenda. However, administrators from that school district did not return phone calls by press time to explain what the item entailed.
Although the board must go through the formal revocation process, which will include a public hearing on June 4, Flores said she was confident El Portal students would find a home at district schools.
Apuzzo said she was sure there are outstanding students at El Portal who would thrive in other district schools, but they can’t stay at El Portal.
“It never lived up to the charter,” Apuzzo said, “which is unfortunate because it was a good vision. But it never happened.”
