NEW CHARTER SCHOOL’S FATE ON COUNTY AGENDA

Supervisors to hear appeal over school in Rancho San Diego

RANCHO SAN DIEGO

The county Board of Supervisors on Wednesday will hear an appeal from two groups opposing a countyapproved plan for a charter high school in rural Rancho San Diego.

Supervisors will consider a request from the Valle de Oro Community Planning Group and SOS2 (Save Our Students-Safety Over Sorry) to overturn the Planning Commission’s decision earlier this year allowing Liberty Charter High School to be built just outside the boundary of the city of El Cajon

iteracy First Charter Schools, a local charter school organization, has planned for nearly seven years to build a high school on a 7.7-acre vacant piece of property at the corner of Chase Avenue and Jamacha Road.

Literacy First executive director and founder Debbie Beyer said the organization has “bent over backwards doing what needs to be done” to get the go-ahead to put a high school in an area where the majority of its grade-school students live.

Liberty Charter High has been open since 2012 on Palm Street in Lemon Grove, but its lease is expiring soon. Literacy First, which runs academies for lower-grade students at three sites in El Cajon, purchased the Rancho San Diego site for $4 million in 2014. The high school in Lemon Grove currently has about 350 students but would expand to 450 at the new site.

The appeal is set for 9 a.m. via online remote access because of COVID-19 concerns. The video can be found at https:// bit.ly/2JoIBC3 and information on how to place a comment for the agenda item is at https://bit.ly/3qsjuP5.

Literacy First plans to construct a 48,000-squarefoot, two-story building with 22 classrooms, an administrative office and a gymnasium. Other amenities for the charter school include 161 parking spaces, an outdoor common area and patios, plus a sports field with lights for nighttime events along the eastern portion of the site.

“We are also making imhas the day off.