The Chula Vista Elementary School District board voted Wednesday to allow Arroyo Vista, a charter school with about 940 students, to serve seventh- and eighth-grade students at one or more of the district’s school sites in the future.
The move would essentially expand one or more district schools to include middle school grades using the charter school.
It has generated controversy within the teachers union and with Chula Vista’s sister district for middle and high school grades — the Sweetwater Union High School District. The board voted 3-2 in favor of the plan.
As an elementary-only district, Chula Vista primarily serves students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
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But its charter schools, which are public schools run independently of school districts, can serve other grades. The Chula Vista district oversees Arroyo Vista, a K-8 charter school.
The district board did not decide which district schools would participate in the charter school expansion, and nothing was decided about how the expansion would work or when it would happen. That will be decided later, board members said.
At Wednesday’s board meeting, which was broadcast online via Microsoft Teams, several people objected to the middle school expansion during public comments.
Susan Skala, president of Chula Vista’s teachers union, said the union is against the expansion for several reasons, including that there was not enough input from stakeholders and not enough research was done to see how expansion would impact all schools and districts involved.
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Several public commenters said they don’t think now is an appropriate time to make decisions about expansion because all school districts are grappling with a health crisis and it’s unclear when students will return to schools.
Opponents also had concerns about how issues such as bullying and middle school class offerings would be handled.
Sweetwater leaders oppose the expansion because they fear it will take away students from Sweetwater and thus decrease its state funding.
Julie Walker, president of the Sweetwater teachers union, said in a statement that Sweetwater is the feeder district for all South County elementary schools and “any move which undermines our high school district, already in financial crisis, will have an enormous impact on current and future (Sweetwater) students....”
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In an email, Sweetwater spokesman Manny Rubio said the district still has many concerns and questions about the impact of the board’s decision and hopes to discuss the matter more with Chula Vista in the future.
Chula Vista district board members Leslie Ray Bunker and Eduardo Reyes voted against the expansion.
“I think right now is a really bad time,” Bunker said.
Board members who support the expansion said their vote does not necessarily mean Arroyo Vista will expand this school year or next. Board member Laurie Humphrey said the vote opens the door for a future expansion but decisions about actually expanding have not been made yet.
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“This doesn’t green light that we’re going to go forward. This is keeping the door open,” Humphrey said.
The Chula Vista district has pursued expanding middle school because about 200 students are on wait lists for middle school at Chula Vista charter schools, said Superintendent Francisco Escobedo.
The district wants to satisfy those families’ demand and provide Chula Vista families the choice of attending a school that goes from kindergarten through eighth grade, Escobedo has said.
The school board also approved Wednesday $7.5 million in budget cuts, including $2.1 million in cuts for resource teachers, $1.6 million in “adjustments” to special education and $1.2 million in cuts to the district office.
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April 24, 2020 at 07:00AM
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Charter school can expand middle school at Chula Vista district sites - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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