Charter to open school year amid concerns over governance
Old Town Academy has agreement with Livermore corporation
Old Town Academy will welcome students back for a fifth year next month, even as questions linger about who has control of the independent charter school and its public funds.
The academy has replaced its executive director, two members of its governing board, and other staffers following a rough end to last school year after the administration entered into an unusual agreement with a Northern California charter organization.
The Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, based in Livermore, lists Old Town Academy as one of its six schools on its website. But the San Diego Unified School District, which authorized the charter, said the corporation has no authority or decision-making power over the local campus.
San Diego Unified gave the school the green light to open this year after the charter’s board passed a resolution July 27 assuring the district that the corporation does not control the school. However, the resolution is clear that the charter “desires to ultimately become a school of Tri-Valley.”
San Diego Unified hopes to resolve its concerns over the agreement during proceedings this fall that will determine if the school’s charter is renewed beyond the 2015-16 school year. The district was so troubled by the corporate agreement that it withdrew $23 million in Proposition Z bond funds that the campus had been eligible to use last year for facility upgrades.
“The money is off the table because we couldn’t encumber public funds for a school that has significant governance and operational issues,” said Susan Park, who oversees charter schools for San Diego Unified. “We do not recognize Tri-Valley as the charter operator. The school needs to demonstrate a level of being operationally sound.”
The school’s new executive director, Jon Centofranchi, said the campus is moving forward under a new collaborative approach that will give parents and educators a strong voice. Before taking the academy’s top post, he worked as principal at Mission Middle School in Escondido until December 2014, when he was put on administrative leave without explanation.
Centofranchi declined to discuss the past.
“It doesn’t serve any positive purpose to rehash things that happened in the past,” he said. “We need to focus on making this the best possible school.”
Centofranchi said he is unclear on the full extent of Tri-Valley’s role with the school, except that it would handle the “business side.”
Officials from Tri-Valley were unavailable for comment.
Under California law, charters are publicly funded and independently run schools that may operate outside Old Town Academy agreement with Tri-Valley Learning Corporation raises questions | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:
