For the second guest blogger we have local teachers' union representative Arleigh Kidd talking about a proposed charter school. I am not familiar with this topic, nor do I know the background or facts. If you have questions or comments as always, leave them. Except this time Arleigh will answer them.
Arleigh Kidd here. Recently the Ventura County School Board approved a Charter School called Vista Real. Vista Real currently operates in the Antelope Valley under the name of Desert Sands. Rather than go through local school districts, Vista Real went through the backdoor of the County. The Ventura County School Superintendent, and his staff, investigated Vista Real, and recommended the County Board turn down their charter. Why? Because they found Vista Real had not met State Ed. Code requirements.
The Board however, said they did not care. Board Member Ron Matthews said as long as kids at the school could pray and carry a bible he would vote yes. Desert Sands however, has an API score of only 400! Simi�s Monte Vista School has an API of over 600, and is a similar program (Vista Real would work with independent study students). We also know that investors in Vista Real have been promised a 10% return on their money the first year, this money will come from taxpayers and drain dollars from Simi Schools. We also know that Tony Strickland is on the Vista Real Board of Directors. We do not know if Mr. Strickland is an investor as they refuse to identify investors. If he is, it may raise a conflict of interest since his wife will vote on school funding. The question is, should we allow Vista Real to take away local control in Simi Valley, or should the community fight back?
Thanks Arleigh!
What say you? Leave a comment.
Chuck,
Check what? What is the nature of it? What is your take on Vista Real? How about you Scott?
Chuck,
Can you post some kind of direct link? I have tried but cannot get to the information.
Chuck,
Thanks for the posting. I think it is pretty obvious that Ron Matthews does not care about the seperation of Church and State. I was at the Board meeting the night they approved Vista Real, despite it breaking State Ed. Code. The real question is this. Why is it Republicans who claim to support local school control are not speaking up? Who or what are they afraid of? Any thoughts?
Arleigh:
I was in downtown LA today at a conference.
You know where I stand on this issue. I support keeping the funds in the hands of our local public schools because they have already defined measurements of success and have qualified teachers who need the funds in the classroom. This charter school does none of these things and subverts the education code.
I do want to clarify something on local control and conservativism. There are many types of conservatives and I want to make one point.
Conservatism breaks into two sections as I see it. Excuse my oversimplification, but here goes...
1. Libertarian conservatives who argue small government that does not impede capitalism and private property.
2. Social conservatives who resent federal control and activist judges as they believe it have created an unvirtuous society. Of course, in the last few years social conservatives feel they need to fight fire with fire by supporting federal statutes that support their values.
There is a recent phenomenon in education and some social questions.
1st, A lot of conservatives don't mind the federal government legislating morality from the top down to combat what they perceive as social policy gone awry.
2nd, A lot of conservatives have accepted the President's NCLB because of the accountability in education policy even though a few years back conservatives argued to end the Federal Department of Education.
It is not entirely inconsistent for conservatives to say they want to increase accountability in schools by subverting local control because the term accountability is a social value that they see as something that supersedes local control in this case.
For instance, when Audra Strickland sided with big business on the violent video game bill, she was much more in the libertarian camp of the conservative party.
If she was much more of a social conservative, she would have promoted the ban on violent video games because she would have seen it as polluting our children's minds.
Scott
Scott,
I see where you are coming from on this. I find it ironic with Audra on Vista Real because she told me she favors "Local Control". But Vista Real, on which her husband sits on the Board, subverted local control in four Ventura County Cities. Our local County Board member Dean Kunicki made no effort to get input from the people of Simi Valley (If he did he kept it very quiet). It basically seemed like a backroom deal and a "I scratch your back now, you scratch me later" deal. I mean should local dollars be drained for Vista Real when the best they can do is a 400 API score, which would automatically make it the worst performing school in Simi?
Here is some new information about Vista Real. They told the County Board they were about to become an accredited program last June. According to a state website they did not get it and can apply again in three years. So do we want a non-accredited school in Simi that will also bring with it API scores of only 400? Of course the majority of the Ventura County School Board said they did not care about accredidation or high scores, they only cared about the fact that they hate public schools and this charter offered another way to undermine public schools.
Brian,
If you go on the WASC Accredidation site you can check to see if Desert Sands has received accredidation. You can also go to the Conty chool Board website and get the minutes of that meeting. They made statements about how bad the public schools are, how students are trapped in these terrible schools etc. The four who voted for it made no attempt to hide their hatred of public education and of teachers and especially of CTA. I was at the meeting and that is my opinion.
Brian,
I will get them. They can get also do a google search for "Ventura County School Board" and then click minutes when they get to the site. Also do a google search on "WASC" and go to their site and the school is Desert Sands, but I will get the exact information.
Brian,
Thank you for thinking of me. I would enjoy being involved in some blogging for the Simi Valley/Ventura area especially now that I am running for Congress in the 24th. I am a progressive, grassroots, true blue democrat. Looking forward to a great campaign.
With Conviction and tenacity,
Mary Pallant -
President, Valley Democrats United -
Delegate 41st AD -
Commissioner, Ventura County Commission for Women -
Organizational Developement Committee (CDP) -
PDA/LA Steering Committee -
Candidate for Congress, district 24 -
And, mother of two beautiful girls age 8 and 12!
Mary:
Why are you running for congress? What other offices have you been elected to?
Scott
Mary,
You will be our third guest blogger.
E-mail me, hopefully in word, your blog entry. I will then post it right away. It doesn't need to be too long, but an entry that has thought provoking questions, will be well received.
Then, people will post questions for you, so check back!
Brian Dennert
PS- Anyone of any political party is elgible for a guest blog entry, you just have to leave a request message on this blog.
I look forward to guest entries from Brett Wagner, Jill Lopez, Ferial Masry, Audra Strickland, Elton Gallegly, and all other local candidates.