BSD takes next step to close school

Burton School District’s board of trustees took the next step in closing their Horizon Academy by passing a resolution at a special board meeting Thursday.

The move was necessary to comply with a recent court ruling that prohibits school districts from operating a charter school outside their district boundaries.

“We have been advised by our attorneys that this is the proper way to go about doing this. They have advised us to do this on our own timeline rather than it happening by someone pushing us to do it,” said BSD Superintendent Sharon Kamberg.

Kamberg added she did not believe PUSD would have asked Burton to move Horizon Academy out of the district, but both she and BSD’S attorneys believe there are watchdog groups intent on stifling charter systems that will be watching for compliance with the new law.

The resolution will serve as a legal document demonstrating the district’s intent to comply, protecting them from liability should they approached by such a group.

After this year’s graduation, there will be 49 high school students remaining at Horizon Academy who have the choice to attend Burton’s Summit Charter Collegiate Academy or the PUSD high school of their residence.

The district will be assisting Horizon students in making their decision over the next few weeks, and Kamberg assured those in attendance Thursday that the district would make every accommodation necessary to ensure that the transition out of independent study/online study is as smooth as possible.

“[We will be] putting extraordinary resources in place for their success, because they will be going from fewer credits required at Horizon to more credits required at Porterville High or SCCA,” she said.

Every student will

meet individually with a counselor to chart their coursework to ensure they know what they need for graduation.

Students will also be offered online courses, summer school, zero period, and after school tutoring to assist in credit recovery.

The resolution passed Thursday night sets in motion a sequence of steps that will be taken between now and the end of the school year, including an audit of the school, said Kamberg.

Jeremy Powell, director of education services for BSD, has been working closely with Lozanosmith, the law firm who won the original Northern California case in 2016 that prompted the law, to ensure there are no complications.