On Tuesday Maria Albright met with Jeff Hittenberger. While Kristi, Vincentia and I appealed to him based on numbers, she appealed to his humanity. She told him that he must look into his heart and see that it’s for the children that the sites must stay open. That even though we all say our kids go to CHEP, we think of our school as the specific site. Her kids go to the CHEP North School. Not just CHEP.
Then on Wednesday I attended the OCDE board meeting, hoping to talk to the Board of Directors about our cause. I had never been to a school board meeting and had no idea what to expect. All I thought to do was work on a prepared statement the night before.
At the meeting I met and spoke with so many people and learned so much. At first I didn’t think I would be allowed to talk at all, as it seemed that people had already signed up before me. There were already things on the schedule for them to talk about and CHEP wasn’t one of them. The meeting was full but I found a seat and waited.
They took a break at 11 and I had a chance to talk with the superintendent Al Mijares. After listening to him talk at the meeting, he seemed very smart and was very willing to listen to me for a moment during the break.
I told the him how CHEP used to be a growing program with over 1,000 students. That ten years ago a rule was made preventing CHEP from promoting and since then it had started to decline in numbers.
He seemed surprised by a few things. First that CHEP used to be much larger, second that we were not allowed to promote, and third he didn’t seem to know about the Imaginology event.
I asked him for more time so that we could promote and bring the numbers back up. He said that there just isn’t enough money to pay for the teachers and rent and everything. But he also said that if the numbers did go up enough, then it would mean that CHEP would not be in such a need for money and would probably be able to keep the sites open. It’s not much but it’s something.
After the break there was some time set aside for the board to give awards to distinguished teachers and staff. And at 12:00 there was time for comments from the community. Not much time was provided for this and there were already a large number of concerned parents waiting to speak. Most of them were protesting the new law in California requiring Sex Ed in schools (AB 329).
A lot of angry, scared people. Several times people mentioned a mass exodus from Public school. As I sat there and listened to it all. I decided to change my strategy.
When called to the podium I addressed the public as well as the board. I told them about CHEP and how if they were unhappy with traditional school then CHEP, a public school program, was there for them. I then said to the board that CHEP is in danger of closing two of the three sites but if we kept them then it would mean a place for those wishing to leave traditional school.
I’m sure many in the audience had never heard of CHEP before. I asked the board for at least one more year to promote the program so that we could grow to sustaining numbers. I thanked the board for my time and sat down.
Because I had never been or a board meeting before I decided to stay to the very end to see what else a board meeting entailed.
When it ended, Ken Williams, the board member representing district 3 came up to me and said that he had heard great things about CHEP, and that he would do whatever he could the help us keep the sites open. Several other people I met also pledged their support.
I went from feeling kind of hopeless to feeling hope again. I know with all that’s happening it can be demoralizing. But we’re not done yet. This weekend is Imaginology, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Orange County Fairgrounds.
It’s free (except for parking) and will have upward to 46,000 visitors. CHEP will have a booth staffed with parents and teachers. If you are not signed up to help, it’s okay we have it covered, but feel free to stop by for a bit and talk to some prospective parents about your experiences with CHEP.
Our plan is too promote to everyone even those outside the range of the Tustin Site. We will take all names and email addresses. Though we may not be able to say that there will be a site for them if they live in North or West Orange County, we can say that we are working on it, and will contact them soon.
These numbers can help us convince OCDE that CHEP can grow in all parts of OC, and with that we can afford to keep the West and North sites open.