There is no excuse for the agency which runs Gilroy’s charter
high school, El Portal Leadership Academy, for absconding with
money intended to go into teacher’s retirement accounts.
1. District attorney looking into possible criminal charges
There is no excuse for the agency which runs Gilroy’s charter high school, El Portal Leadership Academy, for absconding with money intended to go into teacher’s retirement accounts.
Olivia Soza-Mendiola, the CEO of the Mexican American Community Services Agency, explained in a letter to the editor in response to the story that times were tight and that MACSA always intended to pay the money back.
That doesn’t make it right. As the old saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr has launched an inquiry into MACSA’s practices. That’s precisely the right course of action. It’s hard to imagine that the decisions made within the MACSA administration to knowingly divert funds without consent are not in violation of numerous laws.
2. GUSD-ordered audit hopefully is thorough and clear in conclusions
Meanwhile, the Gilroy Unified School District has done the right thing by hiring an outside firm to complete a financial audit of El Portal which GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores says is very close to being completed. Hopefully, that effort is thorough.
The DA’s office should review that audit carefully and proceed accordingly. It may be that retirement accounts for every teacher employed by MACSA, which also runs a charter school in San Jose, need to be reviewed. Certainly interviews should be conducted with MACSA staff members and statements taken. This is not in any way a casual matter.
3. El Portal is floundering in the academic arena adding to the woe
In addition to the financial mismanagement, which MACSA has freely admitted, the school is floundering in the academic arena.
Its test scores rank close to the bottom of the county and GUSD Trustees have been scrutinizing the school’s lack of success for some time.
If the charter is to be revoked – and why it would not be is difficult to fathom – trustees must act quickly not only to put the school on notice but to set a direction so that the 150 or so students who attend El Portal are accounted for next year at Gilroy or Christopher High.
There are two very distinct issues in play, but both lead to the same place. It’s time to end the experiment with this particular charter school. The results have been absolutely dismal, and now there’s a legal and credibility issue that is simply indefensible.
Swift action by GUSD is necessary.
