Charter school fight going to board tonight

Proponents of the county's only public charter school are hoping that Douglas County school board members will override the recommendation of their own staff and renew Sierra Crest Academy's charter.

"I've made an overview for the board of what we're asking for and what we want them to look at, not the bad track record they're seeing, but the difference that has occurred since parents and teachers found out what the problems were," said parent Renee Sweeney, whose son Shaun is a freshman at the Minden-based school.

Sweeney, now a member of Sierra Crest's governing board, has led the charge to keep the school open for the 66 seventh-12th-grade students who attend. Sponsored by the Douglas County School District, the school's charter was enacted in 2004 and expires in June. Citing a long list of compliance issues, district staff have pursued revocation, insisting Sierra Crest and future charter schools look to the state for sponsorship.

"There's been a lack of awareness and not enough communication going on," Sweeney said. "Once we found out and got involved, changes have been happening. It's up to the school board to decide whether it's been enough."

Sweeney said supporters have come up with an action plan asking for a one-year probationary period.

"It's a safety for them (the board), so that they have that year to assess if we're abiding by what we said we were going to do," she said. "We're providing a list of dates each thing should be accomplished by."

For example, she said, teachers will be coming up with samples of lesson plans.

"They (the district) are saying there is not enough rigor in the curriculum, that we are not teaching to the appropriate grade level," Sweeney said. "There is a lot of conjecture that students are just getting seat time. Having been in there the last couple of months, I can say that's not true."

Sweeney said her son's attitude has improved significantly since signing up at Sierra Crest.

"This is a kid who had no interest whatsoever in school, and who now is talking about putting himself in college classes through Sierra Crest next summer," Sweeney said.

However, Sweeney said Sierra Crest is badly in need of organizational structure, including amending the original charter.

"Just to say we're dedicated isn't enough," she said. "They have seen a history of nothing getting done. In all honesty, the charter should have been amended three years ago. That would have averted a lot of the problems. Things should have been done differently."

Getting the school board to look toward the future is the challenge, Sweeney said.

"We have key people here willing to be involved and make a difference," she said. "If we can't accomplish what we're trying to accomplish in one year's time, then they are right: we shouldn't be open."

School board members are slated to hear the item around 4 p.m. tonight at Douglas High School.

On the other side of the argument, district staff plan to present to the board an 11-page PowerPoint detailing "six years of noncompliance."

In the report, Assistant Superintendent of Education Services Lyn Gorrindo writes that Sierra Crest's curriculum is noncompliant, devoid of "standards-based" education.

"No student projects or rubrics can be produced upon request," Gorrindo stated, referring to this academic year. "Previous years allowed for 'double dipping' of seat time for projects in core content areas. Tracking of state standards not available. No essential content guide could be produced as described in the charter."

Double dipping, Gorrindo said, is counting hours for one project in many different content areas. For example, she said, the school has interpreted five hours in one project to mean five hours in history, five hours in English and so forth, instead of dividing up the actual hours into their real content equivalent.

In her report, Gorrindo cites this year's audit of Sierra Crest courses. In first-semester government, students had five assignments, out of which two were based solely on participation and two were movies with questions. In first-semester chemistry, only six out of 16 assignments aligned with standards; seven of the chemistry assignments had to do with physics, and one was about loss of biodiversity.

First-semester English II had 13 assignments, out of which 10 were music lyrics, with no grades produced until Oct. 19. For first-semester English I, the district could find no grades at all, though grades appeared on the students' transcripts.

Environmental sustainability, a cornerstone class in the charter, has no curriculum, per the school's admission, Gorrindo said.

The district also maintains that Sierra Crest is noncompliant structurally. David Brackett was hired in 2006 as a part-time teacher/administrator with a substitute teaching credential, which expired in October, the district claims. There is no administrator position provided for in the charter.

Furthermore, Gorrindo said Sierra Crest's governing board has repeatedly violated the state's open meeting law by not submitting minutes of their meetings to the district within 30 days.

"The bottom line is that we never get minutes until months and months afterward, and half the time, we don't get agendas," Gorrindo said.

In summary, Gorrindo said the district is standing firm in its intent to revoke.

"The Douglas County School District cannot support grades in courses where standards are not taught or assessed," she stated in her report. "Seat time does not mandate credit."

However, Gorrindo said the district would not penalize students for the school's deficiencies.

"Whatever they come in with, we will make it work," she said. "If the board does vote for revocation, we certainly will go over there as soon as possible to help students make the transition."

Gorrindo said if Sierra Crest's charter weren't revoked, the school could apply for state sponsorship next year contingent on a clean audit and getting off the federal watch list, which they are currently on for attendance issues.