School-house blues
By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
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Margaret Fortune, who was the main pitch person and superintendent forKevin Johnson’s St. Hope schools back in the day, wants to open 10 charter schools—with nearly 5,000 students—in Sacramento County over the next decade.
And she wants to short-circuit the elected boards (and teachers unions) of several local school districts by going straight to the more sympathetic board of the Sacramento County Office of Education to get approval for her schools.
Not surprisingly, the trustees at the Sacramento City Unified School District, where many of the schools would be located, along with teachers unions and some parent groups are freaking at this unprecedented move.
“This proposal will just siphon off high-performing kids, along with their ADA, without doing anything to help those schools that need it most,” said parentKate Lennox at a meeting of the SCUSD board of trustees last week.
The trustees unanimously passed a resolution asking the SCOE to reject Fortune’s application