Hearing on charter school is tomorrow

A hearing to determine whether a charter school will be housed on the Meadows Elementary campus against the district's wishes is set for tomorrow, Fri, March 27.

Meadows Arts and Technology Elementary School (MATES) was created by a group of parents after Meadows was named one of the two schools that Conejo Valley Unified School District will close next fall. University Elementary will also be shuttered in response to declining enrollment and education cuts in the state budget.

The MATES board believes their school is considered a "conversion charter" because the program was largely in place at Meadows before the school was chosen for closure. Therefore, according to Proposition 39, they say, they're entitled to remain at Meadows.

"We of course are hopeful that the court will rule in accordance with current charter law regarding conversion charter schools wherein the converted school remains at its converted facility—in this case, Meadows," said Sheri Polisini, MATES board member. "Once the court issues its ruling, MATES will, as we have always done, strive for a cooperative working relationship with CVUSD."

District officials interpret the law differently. They believe the district is only obligated to provide a comparable facility, and they've offered Glenwood Elementary. The MATES board filed a lawsuit against CVUSD shortly after that offer.

At a board meeting last week, the CVUSD board submitted its final offer of Glenwood School as is required by law. But the MATES parents are moving forward with the lawsuit.

"We've never wavered in the belief that bringing a charter school to the Conejo Valley is the right thing to do," said Renee Dake, MATES board member. "Charter schools are innovative, have a high level of accountability and are closing achievement gaps."

The judge is expected to hear the case at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, and a decision is expected in the week or two following.

Even though both parties have said the ruling could go either way—a precedent on the issue hasn't been established— CVUSD is moving forward with preparations for MATES on Glenwood's campus.

The plan is to create a "second, separate campus that would share the school site but would require very few shared facilities," according to the proposal.

Preliminary plans show that, because enrollment is down at Glenwood, MATES will be able to use eight of the permanent classrooms already on the campus. Three modular classrooms may need to be brought in, along with a modular administration building, a staff lounge and a kindergarten.

"We have the responsibility to provide facilities reasonably equivalent to what the district offers," said Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent of business services. "We looked at the square footage of Meadows; we looked at the number of bathrooms.

"A lot of the expense is going to be running sewer lines," he said, noting that costs could mount to $700,000.

Baarstad said the district could have Glenwood ready for MATES as long as they get a ruling from the judge in the first couple of weeks of April.

"If they say, 'Put them at Meadows,' we've spent just a little," Baarstad said. "If they say, 'You have every right to put them at Glenwood,' we've done what we can in the interim."

Some CVUSD board members expressed frustration that in a time of budget crisis, the district is spending money to equip a charter school whose students won't be considered part of CVUSD.

"Here we are in declining enrollment, yet we're building classrooms," said board president Tim Stephens. "Something's wrong with that picture. I know we're in a pickle, but it just rubs me the wrong way."

Superintendent Mario Contini agreed.

"Yes, it rubs the average, reasonable person the wrong way, but it's something we have to do," he said.

Baarstad acknowledged the concerns.

"Understand that this is not a perfect scenario," he said. "But until the court rules, we have to."