A West Sacramento charter high school was approved by the State Board of Education Friday, helping open the door for Woodland to follow suit.
Petitioner Paul Preston designed most of the charter model that is the California College, Career & Technical Education Center. The school will focus not only on college preparation, but career and technical training for those students not immediately bound for college.
A guild of Woodland parents hopes to succeed in converting Woodland High School -- briefly placed on the state's bottom five percent of schools list for low test scores -- into a charter with CCCTEC's model. The group of more than 100 is looking to convert WHS or open a new site by the 2011-12 school year.
For now, the charter can test the waters in West Sacramento, under the oversight of the state.
The state board gave CCCTEC unanimous approval and encouraging remarks during Friday's meeting.
"There are a number of students that are left out of well meaning decisions ... this is an opportunity to reach out in a really unique way and include all students," board member Jim Aschwanden said.
He expressed intent approval of the petition before public comment, which gave the appearance of impropriety according to California Teachers Association liaison Ken Burt.
Burt pointed out that the petition had been denied by both the Washington Unified School District and the Yolo County Board of Education. While the board cannot limit its review
of the petition based on denial from the county and the district, Burt said, "When a local district makes a finding, we should give deference to the district."