While it is highly unlikely that the popular school would close its doors come June, it is possible that the school will get a dramatic overhaul, new oversight from district administrators, and even a name change.
The district and Cesar Chavez officials will spend the next few months coming up with a plan for either renewing the school’s charter, or launching a new one.
More than 400 people packed Santa Barbara High School’s theater for Tuesday night’s four-hour meeting.
Just before the meeting began, several hundred people united in front of the theatre, playing guitars and singing songs in English and Spanish.
The possibility of closing the school has cut deep on all sides.
“I am sad that we are all here,” said board member Robert Noel. “This conversation should have happened a year ago. I am troubled that we are looking at an 11th hour rescue. I see that as a failure of the district.”
Cesar Chavez Charter School has been caught in a whirlwind of turmoil for the past several weeks. On one hand, parents, teachers and students heap praise on the school. They say it embraces both English and Spanish equally, and allows young students who learned Spanish first, to learn English, without losing their native language.
The goal of the dual immersion school is to teach the students equally in English and Spanish, so that they become fully bilingual and bicultural in both languages.
But the school has suffered from lagging test scores, suggesting that some students are not fully prepared to learn in English once they get to junior high school and beyond.
In addition, the school’s charter expired earlier this year, and the school failed to apply for a charter renewal.
District Superintendent Brian Sarvis believes that the charter school by law does not qualify for a renewal because it fails to meet minimum academic levels on all measurable standards.
In fact, he claimed that state law does not allow the district to renew the charter, because it has fallen below academic standards – a contention that not everyone believes.
“Sadly, Cesar Chavez does not qualify for charter renewal,” Sarvis said Tuesday night. “There is not question. You cannot renew this charter.”
Sarvis just two weeks indicated that closure of the school was a distinct possibility, but in the face of massive public opposition, backpedaled, and instead formed a proposal for what amounts to an overhaul of Cesar Chavez as it currently stands.
Under his plan, the school would pay up to $40,000 for an outside consultant to advise the school. In addition, the school’s governance council would consult with the district on the hiring of a new principal.
A few days ago, the charter school fired principal Eva Neuer. Although the details of the termination have been kept secret, school board members hinted Tuesday night that the school suffered from a lack of leadership and that hiring a new principal would be a positive step toward reshaping the school.
Although there were hundreds of people who attended the meeting, and dozens of people who spoke during public comment, not a single individual favored closing Cesar Chavez Charter School.
In fact, most of the speakers gave impassioned pleas for keeping the school open. They urged board members to look beyond test scores and instead, focus on the children.
“It takes the moral imperative in cases like this, to say the state is wrong,” said Marisela Marquez, an activist, and president of La Casa de la Raza, a community center. “Taking the moral imperative is absolutely the only choice for this school board.”
Despite the low test scores, advocates for the school say that once students finish high school and enter college they are well-prepared for success. As fully bilingual and bicultural people, they are also poised for success in the workforce, they believe.
In addition, advocates say the school makes a larger statement about equality and social justice; it allows students who learned Spanish in the home first the opportunity to feel accepted and embraced in an academic setting.
Second-grade teacher Michael Macioce is looking forward to turning things around at Cesar Chavez.
“We have a great, united staff,” Macioce said. “This crisis has forces us all to work with each other in a more intensive way.”