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By Jonathan Goetz; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report.
Photo, left: David Chong
July 2, 2017 (La Mesa) — At a special session Friday, the La Mesa Spring Valley School District Board of Education voted 4-0 to deny a petition to charter College Preparatory Middle School (CPMS) through the LMSV.
Background
CPMS opened in September 2010 in the basement of the Church of Christ on Jackson Drive in La Mesa. Although located in the LMSV district, it was chartered by the Mountain Empire Unified School District until 2022.
As ECM reported at the time, Mountain Empire had been forced by the state to close its own middle school due to failing state standards, raising questions over why a district with a poor track record should be allowed to provide oversight of a charter drawing state funds in another district with higher performing schools.
In February 2016, Brian Van Zant, who was Superintendent of Mountain Empire’s district at the time the CPMS charter was obtained, pled guilty to a felony violation of conflict of interest laws. Van Zant had opened and provided oversight for several charter schools in other district, including CPMS, and was personally profiting by having charters hire his consulting service, EdHive.
Despite Mountain Empire’s dubious academic record, CPMS students have scored far higher on standardized tests. In 2015, its students scored 96% in science through the California Standards Test, 84% on math and 92% on English in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, Zillow reports. By 8th grade, those scores dipped to 90%, 64% and 72%, still higher than some other schools in the LMSV district. Some parents have praised the education their children received at the charter, though some students complained of a “prison” like environment. Serious questions have been raised about financial stability and other concerns.
The LMSV filed a suit seeking to shut the CPMS down on the basis that it never notified LMSV before opening up within the district’s boundaries. The school subsequently sought permission to build a new, larger charter on land in Spring Valley financed by out of state corporations, which was rejected, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. CPMS subsequently charter approval through the County Board of Education, but that application was denied in 2016. As ECM reported, the County board resolution found that the charter presents an “unsound educational program” for pupils” among other issues. The Charter had contended that it’s students had impressive test scores and the school’s cofounder, Mitchell Miller (above right), had accused LMSV Superintendent Brian Marshall of “horrendous misrepresentations.
The rejected proposal
On May 2, 2017, LMSV received an application to establish CPMS as a charter under jurisdiction of the LMSV, which the board previously rejected. A public hearing was held May 16 and on June 9, a capacity interview was scheduled but petitioners refused to attend, according to recommendation by Marshall posted in the LMSV agenda. Marshall recommended denying the application, stating, “The petition as submitted contains a myriad of deficiencies that petitioners have refused to discuss or resolve. District staff has sent a letter and several e-mails with questions and concerns regarding the petition. To date, the District has received no substantive response to these inquiries.”
Precedent at the state level is to not approve charters while one is still active, Marshall said at Friday’s meeting, or to enroll students authorized by two school districts.
Marshall also stated to the Board and public, “The revenue projections of the submitted budget are based on unsubstantiated enrollment projections, speculative grants and revenue sources, and a one-time local revenue source that has been committed to an approved charter petition budget and therefore is not available for the CPMS-LMSV budget.”
Mitch Miller, CPMS Director of School Operations asked the board to approve the charter. He stated, “We have a track record of seven years of one of the highest ranking middle schools in San Diego County.”
Michelle Anderson, Southern California regional manager for Advocacy for California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) testified, “CCSA has put this petition through our rigorous review process and we view it as legally compliant and educationally sound. It speaks for itself with its exceptional academic performance. Therefore, CCSA asks the board to do the right thing and approve the petition of the college preparatory middle school so that students and families can continue to choose this exceptional academic program.”
But the board rejected their request, and passed Resolution 16-17-27, Denying Charter Petition for the Establishment of College Preparatory Middle School – La Mesa Spring Valley and Written Factual Findings of Support Thereof.
Board member Bob Duff, who told East County Magazine he wanted his granddaughter to attend CPMS, said, “In looking at a charter such as presented to us today and in the past, I am finding that there are enough problems in it that I don’t feel comfortable taking responsibility for it to say this is a charter.”
Board member Jim Long said before voting to deny CPMS’s charter petition, “I don’t take decisions that I make lightly, so I spent over 20 hours reviewing 2 petitions... We have roughly 240 students and a wait list of about 100 so we’re still short 140 students to get to 480… I walked away confused; from what I can see there is no way to support this petition based on the reasons within the Ed code, like we have a right to do.”
Vice-President David Chong had this to say. “I’ve been spending the last year reviewing multiple iterations of this petition, and I’m seeing it again. There is such a demonstrated history of fiscal mismanagement coupled with a proposal that codifies future tremendous losses in the program, and I could not in good conscience even consider approving this petition.”
Chong said that he had voted to approve another recent charter school. He concluded, “I am very much in favor of giving our students in the community options to pursue education in a way that serves their children and our students, and this is not that petition.”
Board President Emma Turner (left) summarized board sentiment just before the vote. “I looked at this whole charter petition evolution as what’s best for kids, the kids of this district. And, having reviewed the petition, having heard from Superintendent Marshall, having viewed the response from the petitioners, reviewing everything, there are too many questions that have not been answered in order for me to support something that might be bad for kids. I just can’t do it.”
Changes to a new Charter School Proposal and Petition could include removing duplicates from the enrollment plan, removing the duplicate $1.5 million already allocated to Mountain Empire, lowering the pay or at least this plan’s share of the cost for the two $90,000 administrators, increasing teacher starting pay from $50,000 a year to $52,814 for the middle school, following the education code regarding retirement benefits, and negotiating a lower lease payment for a new location, perhaps at a market rate square foot rate or as low as $300,000 year if leased from a school district, and lower maintenance costs.
Litigation between the two continues.
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