After more than six hours of heated testimony, in a 5-2 vote, the 7-member state Charter Schools Advisory Commission has recommended that Piru School be converted to a charter school. This recommendation followed the same decision by the California Department of Education, Charter Schools Division Staff. Approximately 70 anti-charter persons were bussed from Piru to Sacramento by the school district for the purpose of protesting the charter. The bus left Piru at about midnight with parents, teachers, and District employees.

Arguments both for and against a charter conversion was described by one person attending the commission hearing as “passionate.” Commissioner, Brian Bauer, admonished the District’s educational leaders to “check their egos at the door” in an effort to heal hard feelings in the community. This recommendation will now proceed to the California State Board of Education for a final determination.

The issue of whether Piru School will become independent of the Fillmore-Piru School District in 2011 is now left exclusively in the hands of the State Board of Education, which will make its decision May 5.