Imagine Schools’ charter renewal recommended
EL CENTRO — A state Department of Education advisory commission on Tuesday narrowly voted to recommend the state Board of Education approve Imagine Schools at Imperial Valley’s petition for charter renewal.
The 5-4 vote by the department’s Advisory Commission on Charter Schools was welcome news for campus officials and supporters, who now await a final determination by the state BOE at its Sept. 6 and 7 meeting.
“We’re happy to have cleared one hurdle and are ready for the next step,” Imagine’s Principal Grace Jiminez said on Wednesday. “We’re hoping for the best.”
Jiminez was one of several Imagine School officials and supporters who were in Sacramento on Tuesday for the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools meeting, where they had been given the opportunity to speak in support of the charter school’s renewal.
She said she was also encouraged by some ACCS members’ comments during the hourslong meeting.
“We’re very delighted that some recognized the merits of our dual immersion program,” she said.
“They did see quite a bit of growth in our academics.”
The campus is the only school in the Valley with a dual immersion program that offers its student body instruction in both English and Spanish.
Campus officials are now gearing up for the state BOE meeting and are asking supporters who may not find it feasible to travel to Sacramento to instead watch the meeting’s livestream on the state Department of Education’s website.
“If they can support us by viewing the livestream broadcast we would be happy with that,” Jiminez said.
The campus will host two meetings on Monday to inform parents about the ongoing charter renewal petition process and its potential outcomes.
If the state Board of Education denies ISIV’s charter renewal petition, the campus will cease to operate.
The campus is currently allowing parents to pre-enroll their children, which has helped campus officials determine the level of interest in attendance, Jiminez said.
Imagine Schools had been scheduled to start the current school year on Aug. 25, according to documents ISIV submitted to the ACCS as part of the petition process. The campus is now tentatively scheduled to start Sept. 12, pending charter approval.
“We have a team of staff that is ready to welcome students pending that approval in September,” Jiminez said.
As of June 30, Imagine Schools ceased operating under the auspices of ECESD. If its charter renewal is approved by the state BOE, the campus would operate under the exclusive auspices of the California Department of Education, said ECESD Superintendent Jon LeDoux.
The state Department of Education has recommended that the state BOE deny ISIV’s request for a charter renewal.
“The ISIV does not meet the renewal criteria as they do not perform, overall, at least equal to its comparable district schools where the majority of ISIV pupils would otherwise attend,” stated an agenda report authored by the state DOE’s Charter Schools Division for the ACCS meeting on Tuesday.
“Additionally, the ISIV petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to implement the program set forth in the petition due to an unrealistic financial and operational plan for the proposed charter school.”
The state DOE’s findings reflect similar findings reached by the ECESD in its denial of ISIV’s charter renewal petition.
ISIV appealed to the state BOE as a result of the ECESD Board of Trustees unanimously voting on Jan. 31 to deny the campus’ petition for a five-year charter renewal.
“This recommendation is based on the very poor academic performance of the charter school, as well as serious violations of law and its current charter with regard to governance and operations generally,” stated ECESD’s staff report recommending the denial of ISIV’s charter renewal.
The ECESD denial of ISIV’s charter renewal had prompted the campus to appeal the decision to the Imperial County Office of Education Board of Trustees, which on April 25 failed to take any action, effectively denying the charter renewal petition.
Currently, ICOE’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team is auditing ISIV at the request of the El Centro Elementary School District.
A review by ECESD of publicly available records and documents provided by ISIV has led district officials to suspect ISIV committed “fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices,” LeDoux stated in a March 13 letter to ICOE requesting the audit.
LeDoux’s letter alleges that ISIV entered into a series of property leases with its parent company that violated conflict of interest laws.
The audit is expected to be completed in late September or early October, an ICOE official said on Wednesday.