Palisades Charter High School’s petition to the Los Angeles school board to renew its independent charter for another five years has cleared a vital hurdle. The draft petition was delivered to the LAUSD Charter Office on January 31 with the signatures of 73 percent of the permanent teachers (52 of 71), far exceeding the required 50 percent support by permanent teachers, according to Jack Sutton, the school’s executive director. Another 47 non-permanent teachers and staff members also signed in support of the petition. ‘Our board of directors’three teachers, three parents, three community representatives, a classified employee and myself’committed itself to successfully renewing the charter as well as addressing important issues raised by teachers when it passed the following motion at its January meeting,’ Sutton said. The motion read: ‘The PCHS Board of Directors is committed to charter renewal being submitted as a 501(c)3 California nonprofit public benefit corporation. The PCHS Board of Directors is also committed to, through the amendment process prescribed in the Charter, examining the governance structure once the charter has been renewed and labor negotiations are completed.’ In the weeks leading up to the vote, teachers union representative Alex Shuhgalter rallied a small contingent of faculty in criticizing the school’s current governing model. They argued that the board under the 501(c)3 structure did not give teachers enough say in governing the school. At a public meeting in January, Sutton argued that the backbone of the school’s governance is the seven standing committees, each comprised of 50 percent faculty members. But, Sutton added, if the faculty wants to make changes to the governing structure, there is a mechanism to do so in the charter. The amendment process requires 75 percent of teachers and two-thirds of the board support. The teachers have also criticized the board for making no headway on class-size reduction. While there is no dispute over the need to reduce class size, doing so necessitates more long-term considerations, Sutton said. For example: Should there be a new building? Should there be more on-line courses? What would each option cost? The next step in charter renewal is for the LAUSD charter office staff to review the draft and send it to other departments (e.g., budget, special education, and facilities) for review. After feedback is received, changes will be made in the final draft that is submitted to the school board for approval. Sutton estimated that the board will take up the charter renewal sometime in April or May. ‘We hope that all the stakeholders will recognize the value and responsibility of remaining an independent charter high school,’ said Sutton, quoting from a January 27 Palisadian-Post editorial. ‘We ask that the community support our efforts toward that end.’
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