Charter School Backers Fend Off Charges of Elitism

Debate sharpened over Tuesday night, with backers saying parents deserved a choice and one opponent calling the project elitist.

Dozens of parents in fluorescent-green T-shirts attended the board meeting to show their support for The Grove Leadership Academy, which would be located in Laguna West and focus on civic participation.

“We’re going to train these kids in leadership and a lot of them will stay in Elk Grove,” said Mark Cornfield, a former Arcohe Union School District superintendent who presented the group’s petition. “They will be on the city council and…maybe even sit up here on the school board.”

State law gives the district the right to approve or deny the petition for the K-8 school. If approved, the school would open this fall with 200 students and expand in subsequent years. Admission would be determined by a lottery among interested families.

In his pitch to board members, Cornfield praised the quality of existing Elk Grove schools. He likened the choice between the new school—which would receive public funds but be managed independently of the district—and a traditional public school to “Coke vs Pepsi, Ford vs Toyota.”

That choice is important for students with different learning styles, several parents testified.

“Not every student fits in a traditional school setting,” parent Steve Smith told the board. “As my students move up in grades the focus on doing well on the test is eroding their passion for school.”

But a representative of the local teachers’ union, which is opposing the school, said many of the factors cited as unique in already exist in other district schools.

For example, the same Project Citizen curriculum the new school would adopt to teach civics is already in use in eighth-grade classrooms, said Ken Poppers of the Elk Grove Education Association.

As for the sense of community that parents argue a small school would provide, Poppers said, “We do not believe Elk Grove lacks community.” He mentioned churches, existing schools and scouting as places where students could receive the same benefit.

Elk Grove City Councilmember Gary Davis, a key backer of the school, dismissed those arguments.

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t be proposing this,” he said. “To have every classroom, every day focused on public service as a fundamental purpose of the school does not exist, and the parents interested in that are the ones filling the chambers tonight.”

Board members also heard a criticism often levelled at charter schools: that when affluent parents pull their children out of regular public schools, it hurts the district as a whole.

“I empathize with these parents because we all want something good for our children,” Olga Batey, a former school board member, told the board. “But if they have that much energy for a charter school, why don’t they put it into our school system?”

Batey, who in the 1950s was the first woman to be elected to the board, said afterward that she was concerned about The Grove’s requirement that parents volunteer for 40 hours each year.

“What about the kids whose parents maybe are working two jobs and don’t have time to volunteer?” she asked. “I think it smacks of elitism.”

Supporters of The Grove will have a chance to answer those questions Feb. 7, when the board will hear and discuss a recommendation from district staff about whether to approve or deny the charter.

By law, the district must take action by March 3, 60 days after it received the petition.

If successful, the academy would be only the second independent charter school to receive district approval. Supporters say if they are denied, they will appeal the decision to the Sacramento County Board of Education.

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