In their ongoing concentrated effort to market the benefits of renewing the charter at Palisades High School, executive director Jack Sutton and board president Jonathan Fielding met with parents last week to outline the charter renewal process and answer questions. While the two men made a strong case for renewal based on the virtues of being a smaller school separate from LAUSD, they were challenged by United Teachers Los Angeles Chapter Representative Alex Shuhgalter, a 17-year faculty member who distrusts the governance structure and stated at the meeting that 80 percent of the faculty want control in running the school. In letters to parents and faculty this month, the governing board focused on Pali’s status as charter school, completely independent from LAUSD. Up until June 2003, Pali was an affiliated charter, which allowed some flexibility in scheduling and curriculum, but no financial discretion. So in introductory remarks to parents last week, Fielding and Sutton outlined the funding advantages the charter has over the district, and listed some of the academic programs that have already been instituted, reflecting the charter’s more individualized approach to education. With over $1 million to invest in the students beyond its day-to-day budget, the school has expanded textbook purchases and student information systems, e.g., DVDs and projectors for each classroom, and has hired faculty for special classes, including remedial core subjects and music. Building the case for the support of the charter renewal, Fielding stressed the importance of full support from all the stakeholders’faculty, parents, administrators and staff. No longer financially dependent on the district, PaliHi is now a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization with a $16 million budget, governed by a board of directors, an executive director and chief business officer. Fielding emphasized the fact the board of directors (comprising representation from faculty, parents, the executive director, principal and one classified member) is advised and directed by seven standing subcommittees, made up of 50 percent teachers. ‘In order to convince the LAUSD board for renewal for the next five years, strong support is needed from all our stakeholders,’ said Fielding, adding that the charter renewal requires 50 percent faculty approval to pass. A draft of the charter renewal will be presented to LAUSD charter office at the end of January. Discouraged that the governing leadership has ‘consistently ignored the teachers and has failed to take their concerns into consideration,’ Shuhgalter organized a referendum on charter renewal in December and sent it to all faculty members on behalf of the UTLA chapter. ‘Three choices appeared on the ballot,’ Shuhgalter said: ‘one, to return to being an affiliated charter, two, to continue as a 501 (c)3 or three, replace the current structure with a faculty-led government. ‘Eighty-eight faculty members (including nonvoting probationary teachers) out of 105 were in favor of a different government form.’ Shuhgalter told the Palisdian-Post that he supports most of the charter principals, but bristles at what he calls ‘the board’s disregard for the authority of the committees and ignoring any partnership with the faculty. ‘We have been talking about a partnership from the beginning,’ Shuhgalter said. ‘It is not clear why the board does not want to recognize this partnership, why they don’t discuss issues with the faculty, but rather brush us off in the same manner as happened under LAUSD jurisdiction.’ One of the faculty’s major concerns from the beginning has been class-size reduction, which, Shuhgalter asserts, the board ignored. ‘The most important advantage in the charter movement is class-size reduction,’ he said. ‘There is nothing more important than the personal attention the teacher gives and receives in the classroom. How can you do this with 42 people in the class?’ Regarding class-size reduction, Sutton responded at the parent’s meeting. ‘In May we talked about class-size reduction and asked our curriculum committee about priorities, and got no answer. So we are going to form a task force to look at class size and discuss options. Should we build a new building? Should we offer online courses for credit? What would each option cost? ‘Class-size reduction is not easy to do as a charter,’ Sutton continued. ‘We need to examine in depth all of the critical issues. If discussions are going to be held, we, the collective ‘We,’ need to be involved. We have to look at a three-to-five year program that will significantly impact the school across the board. We have no extra classroom space, and if we reduce the number of students, we lose money.’ Recognizing the frustration on the part of teachers and parents at the meeting on the inability of the charter to expedite immediate class-size reduction, Sutton was sympathetic, but focused. ‘Is it better to get our charter renewed now or to look at the organizational structure? I think we need to get the charter renewed. You can always come back and address any features in the charter after it’s renewed. There’s an amendment process that requires 75 percent of teachers and two-thirds of the board support.’ In the meantime, Shuhgalter has established a committee of teachers and one classified person to review the faculty-led governing structures of Granda Hills Charter and Helix Charter in San Diego County, which are both governed by a faculty-driven board. The committee is also planning to send a letter to the LAUSD charter office, stating that PalHi’s teachers will not consider any charter renewal drafts without their signatures. ‘The foundation of the governance relationship at Pali is totally wrong,’ Shuhgalter said. ‘It should not be us against them.’
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