Rocketship Elementary Plan For Concord Moves Forward

CONCORD - A plan for a new charter elementary school in Concord received state approval Thursday afternoon despite local attempts to block it, according to the school network.

During a Thursday hearing, the California State Board of Education approved Redwood City-based Rocketship's bid for a location in Concord's Monument Corridor neighborhood. The non-profit network of charter schools successfully appealed previous rejections by Mt. Diablo Unified School District in August and later Contra Costa County Board of Education.

"The new Rocketship public elementary school in the Monument Corridor means more of the youngest students in the community will get on the right track and graduate prepared to succeed in college and beyond," Cheye Calvo, a Rocketship executive, said in a statement.

This came as a blow to a group of Mt. Diablo Unified School District educators, administrators and parents who were battling efforts to establish the school.

"We're very disappointed with the decision we think it flies in the face of local control," said Guy Moore, the president of the group, Mt. Diablo Education Association.

"The state needs to wake up," Moore added. "They seem to be approving every charter school regardless of the merits."

Moore's association, which is affiliated with the California Teachers Association, organized a protest the morning of the hearing and created an online petition to voice concerns about the school.

"We're not against charter schools - we're against bad charter schools," he said. "Anybody that reads about (Rocketship) and studies their methods would agree with us."

Moore said Rocketship's teaching methods include excessive amounts of homework, lack of credentialed teacher oversight and a sole emphasis on math and English.

Moore said Rocketship's model particularly isn't right for the heavily bilingual students in the Monument Corridor area. He said Rocketship has no experience with anything outside English language instruction. "They don't value people's culture," he said.

The association is adamant that a charter school like Rocketship's would siphon off resources that would otherwise go to the public school district. "We think we're doing a great job," Moore said. "We don't see a need for this."

Rocketship's appeal to the state education department was built on a petition that included 1,100 signatures in support of the school. Moore argues that there were "manipulative tactics" used to gather these signatures.

The non-profit's representatives said local support was demonstrated during the state hearing, which some parents attended and wrote letters for.

Rocketship offered a statement from Cristina Gutierrez, a Concord parent who signed the petition. "I'm excited and hopeful about my son attending the new Rocketship school here," she said. "When I looked at the test scores and college attendance rates for Latino students in the county, I knew I needed to find a better choice for my son."

Rocketship's representatives tout the school network's experience with low-income children and English language learners, as well as what it believes is a record of providing strong academic growth.

"Rocketship has the experience and strong education model to help Concord students make huge strides in their path to a college education," Calvo said.

-Bay City News, image via ShutterStock