Jeff Sweeney
Superintendent Fillmore Unified School District

On October 15, 2009, The Fillmore Gazette’s article [Questions & Answers] regarding the petition to convert Piru Elementary to a charter school did not accurately present both sides of the issues. As Superintendant of Fillmore Unified School District, I felt it was appropriate to submit this letter to clarify and explain the District’s position relative to the charter.

At a meeting on October 21, 2009 (after the writing of this letter), the FUSD Governing Board will be conducting a public hearing on the proposal submitted by a small group of teachers, a former principal, and a few community members to remove Piru School from the District, and make it a separate charter school run independently of the District.

Because the decision on the charter affects the entire community, the District is anxious to hear from the public, particularly current Piru Elementary parents and District employees, regarding their feelings about the proposal to convert Piru to a separate school. If the charter is granted, Piru Elementary will no longer be one of FUSD’s schools, but will operate separately under the authority of a corporation. We hope that many community members will attend the public hearing and speak to the Board, whether they are in favor of or opposed to the request to convert Piru. FUSD is concerned by reports it has received that local families whose children attend Piru and are directly affected by the charter proposal were not included in the development of the charter.
Apparently the County Office of Education’s Migrant Program Office is concerned that the migrant population, many of whom have children at Piru, have an opportunity to voice their position on this request. That Office has chosen to provide a bus to transport people from Rancho Sespe to the meeting. The lead petitioner’s allegation that the District was improperly diverting Migrant Education funds to bus parents to the public hearing is quite simply wrong. The bus is being provided and paid for by the County Office, and was not done at the District’s request nor paid for with any monies within the District’s control.

The petitioners and the nine teachers who signed the petition in support have the right to submit the petition and have the District consider their charter request. The unfounded reports that the District has threatened employees for supporting the charter are entirely false. No FUSD employee will be penalized for his or her position on or participation in the charter process.

Since the charter proposal was submitted to the District for consideration, it has created controversy in the community. Much of this controversy centers on questions about how the proposal will affect students and employees.

FUSD does not believe that it is in the interest of its students or employees who continue to work for FUSD to grant any special return rights to employees who choose to leave their District jobs to work at the charter school. A guarantee of such return rights would force the FUSD to hold open positions for those former employees. This would mean the District would either have to fill positions with temporary employees, or potentially release or layoff new teachers and other employees in order to return former employees to the positions they voluntarily left. The District believes that this would be bad for students, bad for employees, and bad for the District as a whole.

The charter proponents are seeking to break away from the District, and to become a separate employer. Anyone is free to choose to work at the proposed charter school. But it should be no surprise to anyone that the District is not interested in guaranteeing − at the expense of students, other employees, and the District as a whole − future employment rights to employees who voluntarily leave their FUSD positions to work at the proposed charter school.

Nothing in the charter or the law requires or guarantees that all FUSD employees currently working at Piru Elementary would be offered (or want to take) jobs at the proposed charter school. Nor does the charter require that any or all of the charter school’s positions would be filled with current FUSD employees. The charter does, therefore, have layoff implications for the District.

The conversion of Piru Elementary to a charter school would mean that FUSD would need fewer classified and certificated staff. Because the number of FUSD employees who might choose to leave FUSD to work for the charter will necessarily be uncertain, FUSD would need to issue layoff notices to both classified and certificated employees to avoid overstaffing.

Advocates on both sides of the charter issue have been working to garner support for their positions. This has included community meetings and the distribution of information, including door-to-door. Some FUSD teachers or other employees, in their individual capacities, have been among those opposing the charter. Despite the petitioners’ statements and implications to the contrary, the District has not organized migrant parent meetings, distributed flyers opposing the charter, or engaged in any acts of misinformation or intimidation. Just as the charter petitioners, including FUSD employees on non-duty time, are entitled to develop and advocate in favor of the charter, FUSD employees who oppose the charter may also use their own time to oppose the charter request as they see fit.

The District is reviewing the charter petition in its entirety, including the education plan, business and finance matters, and issues related to employment, to determine if it offers an appropriate educational alternative worthy of approval. The Board’s decision will be based on the law and all the facts. The FUSD Board will make a final decision on the charter at a public meeting to be scheduled in November.

I trust that this helps clarify FUSD’s consideration the charter school request.