The Board meeting on June 12th stressed me out. I needed a few days to process my thoughts. Here’s what happened.
The Board presented the TARC kids with certificates for their work. Laura Strachan gave a speech about what they had accomplished and said that CHEP looks forward to having the TARC team next year. They took pictures with the Superintendent and the members of the Board.
Next, four parents spoke. I went first and started with “These kids will not be in CHEP next year due to the consolidation, so there probably won’t be a TARC team.” Then I went over some numbers.
“In a Public School Review for the 2015-16 school year, published for free online at publicschoolreview.com, PCHS and CHEP ranked in the top 20% of all schools in California.
The percentage of students achieving proficiency in Math was 55%. Higher than the California average of 37%.
The percentage of students achieving proficiency in Reading and Language Arts was 65%. Higher than the California average of 48%.
And there was a graduation rate of 85-89%, which was higher than the state average.”
Next went Rose who gave a passionate speech about how great the program was and what they are losing through consolidation. Her daughter Gina then gave a carefully prepared speech about how much CHEP has meant to her and her sister, and how disappointed she was with how things were going to be for the kids coming after her in CHEP.
Vincentia finished up with some harsh criticism for Laura Strachan and Principal Machele Killgore who was there in the audience.
After the speeches, Laura Strachan and Jeff Hittenberger showed numbers for why they wanted to close CHEP. It was the first time the members of the Board had seen these numbers and they were skewed against the program. The kids did great though because the rest of the meeting was mostly numbers and very dry.
They broke for private meetings and we had a few hours break. Everyone went to Acapulco for lunch but I stayed behind in case they broke early or if there was anything else to learn.
When they reopened the doors at about 4:30+ We went back in, and Laura Strachan presented the LCAP (a report about how ACCESS was doing and what was coming for next year).
We had to do something. CHEP parent, Tam hadn’t spoken yet so he signed up to speak at the end of the meeting. He took notes and prepared a rebuttal. If only he had more time. What he had was good and he only had three minutes. But he said enough that hopefully he poked a few holes in their logic. To make the Board think twice about what they were shown. I emailed the Board some of what me and Tam had discussed.
I hope they listen because the bad news is that as of last Friday, CHEP West and CHEP North are closed. The teachers are gone and the books ready to be thrown out.
I know it’s disappointing.
On Friday, June 12th, there was another promotional event. Teachers were told and some had volunteered. But at the last minute they were told that the event was canceled. So Vincentia and I went instead.
It was a town hall style event with several charters, and guys, I learned so much. Our education system is sooo broken.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this, and came to the meetings, and went on social media. This is truly Community Home Education.
There’s a board meeting tomorrow, and I’m not going, but I will post an update about it. From now on I will be looking outside the district for solutions. Trying to find someone in the media who would be interested. I'm also working on my own story that I will shop around to various outlets. So much is here, maybe I'll write a book.