Onus on district leaders to help charter succeed

EDITORIALIn denying a proposal last week to start a charter school in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, school leaders -- the memo to the school board was from Susan Astarita, assistant superintendent of elementary education; Paul Reed, deputy superintendent; and Lorri McCune, assistant superintendent of human resources -- put forth a nearly 50-page-long argument against the initial plan for the Orange County Academy.

School district leaders raised many questions and arguments about the plan for the part-home-schooling, part-classroom school. They:

* Debated whether home-schooling is a sound method of education.

* Pointed out that the district has plenty of independent study.

* Harshly criticized the use of too many “buzz words” in the proposal.

* Cited numerous inconsistencies in the plan and its pedagogical methods.

* Questioned the school’s ability to provide proper healthcare to students.

* Suggested that expected costs, including teacher salaries and healthcare benefits, are “unrealistic.”

* Complained in general about insufficient explanations and proposals, including how the school would deal with low-achieving or high-achieving students.

* Claimed there are not enough specifics, at one point writing, “The charter is very confusing.”

Finally, the district officials concluded that it is unlikely the charter school organizers will succeed, with no proof that board members or parents, who will be acting as teachers, will be well enough trained.

“District teachers are highly trained and prepared to instruct their students; they are certified by the state,” district leaders wrote. “In contrast, it is unlikely parents will be able to provide the same quality instruction to their children.”

Their list goes on.

Reading through the memo, it seems a harsh and final repudiation of the charter school plan, with the Orange County Academy bound for the same doomed fate of the Mesa Leadership Academy proposed five years ago. Once again, for whatever reason, the district seemed unwilling even to consider approving a charter school.

The board’s meeting, though, was of a different, and much more receptive, tenor.

“I hope you will take a lot of the information from the research that went into this denial and go from there,” board president David Brooks told the petitioners, providing a welcome opening for more work to be done on starting a charter school in Newport-Mesa.

At least, we trust it is a real opening.

During the past six years since parents proposed the Mesa Leadership Academy, the district has not been exactly inviting to the charter school idea. Done correctly, though, there is every reason to make a charter school a part of the public school choice for parents and students in this community. Choice and the best education possible should be cornerstones of public school system. A charter school certainly can add a progressive piece to that system.

District officials raise plenty of concerns about the Orange County Academy. Now the challenge for them is to help those proposing the academy address those problems so they can start, and maintain, a school that meets -- and perhaps even exceeds -- the lofty measures Newport-Mesa has for its schools. They certainly should want to see the academy succeed.