After 10 years of operating as a charter school and 18 months of fiscal independence, Palisades Charter High School is in the process of applying for a renewal of its charter, which must be approved by the LAUSD board this spring. The school is holding a meeting for Palisades parents, future student parents and community members who would like to know more about how the school functions as an independent charter and the renewal process on Thursday, January 13, at 6:30 p.m. in Mercer Hall, 15777 Bowdoin. The impetus behind applying for charter status 11 years ago, followed by securing fiscal independence in 2003, was prompted by the school’s former principal Merle Price, teachers and parents desire to chart their own course. At next Thursday’s meeting, school officials will outline the advantages of maintaining fiscal independence, explain the provisions of the charter and detail the manner in which the school is operated as a nonprofit corporation. ‘You just have to look at the progress the school has made since we became a charter to be 100 percent behind charter renewal,’ said 34-year PaliHi teacher and board member Bud Kling. ‘Test scores have improved, expenditure of money is four times what LAUSD spends for programs and textbooks, and we’ll probably end up with a surplus’ in June. While an independent school certainly has an operating advantage over the district itself, PaliHi still faces challenges related to taking over the administrative and business responsibilities formerly provided by the district; improving the performance gap on standardized tests between ethnic groups; working towards reducing class sizes; negotiating with the teachers union (United Teachers of Los Angeles) which represents some 90 percent of the 107 teachers at the school; and adjusting to the new governance model under the recently adopted nonprofit status. Because of its new responsibilities won with fiscal independence, the school created a new structure and hired an executive director (Jack Sutton) and chief business officer (Greg Wood) to work with principal Gloria Martinez and the administrative staff. The 11-member board of directors (three teachers, three parents, one classified staff member, the executive director and an ex officio student member) is responsible for setting policy for the teachers and 2,630 students. But according to Sutton, the backbone of the school’s goverance is represented by the seven standing committees’each comprised of 50 percent faculty members, plus parents and students. Each committee is responsible for developing recommendations for the board within its range of responsibility. The committees cover assessment and accountability, budget and finance, communications, educational programming, human resources, operations and facilities and policy. Because one of the charter renewal requirements is that 50 percent of the faculty must sign to support the charter petition, the Pali board is making efforts to encourage faculty feedback and communication. ‘The last charter renewal process to gain financial independence was contentious between LAUSD and Pali,’ Sutton said. ‘The teachers felt that they hadn’t had the opportunity to approve the final version and blamed the negotiating team rather than the district. ‘We have provided every teacher with the first draft, and planned for period-by-period conference times so that any teachers who wanted could come and talk about the charter.’ The teachers are sensitive to their representation as stakeholders in governing the school and many were disgruntled by their loss of power on the board of governors when the school switched to a nonprofit status. ‘The former board consisted of 20 members, half of whom were faculty,’ Sutton said. ‘But because they had no liability coverage, half quit. Under our nonprofit status, there is corporate liability protection, but there are only three teachers on the board. The teachers lost their perceived control, despite the fact that each standing committee has 50 percent teacher representation.’ According to board member Kling, the board is smaller and more efficient now. ‘When we were a profit-making organization, meetings took forever, nothing could get done. And the board has said that they want the school to be committee driven, and that they’re there to define, tweak and adjust. Everything is supposed to funnel through the committees.’ The school’s final challenge, said Sutton, is to encourage the teachers to take advantage and participate in the governing structure. If the faculty does not support the charter petition, the school will be forced to revert back to being a regular part of LAUSD when the charter expires June 30.
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