The Placer Herald - Placer Herald Highlights McClintock's Remarks in Support of College Prep Charter School

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The Placer Herald - Placer Herald Highlights McClintock's Remarks in Support of College Prep Charter School

A new charter petition for the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy was presented to the Rocklin Unified School District at its board meeting on July 16.

The WSCA is a proposed college preparatory charter school for grades 7-12.

The RUSD board unanimously rejected the original petition last January because it failed to adequately address the criteria set by state law, said Superintendent Kevin Brown.

"They have to come up with a valid program that meets the needs of all students," Brown said.

Among those speaking in support of the petition were state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks and Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Roseville.

"As a member of the state Assembly in 1992, I strongly supported the Charter Schools Act when we adopted it and there is no question that Western Sierra has exceeded all the requirements of that act," McClintock said.

Citing that charter schools give parents more choices, McClintock added, "It is based on the self-evident truth that the most jealous guardians of the education of a child are that child's parents and that the public schools exist to assist parents in educating their children - not the other way around."

Gaines concurred, saying, "Parents should have as many choices as possible."

Speaking about the WSCA, Gaines pointed to the Rocklin Academy, an elementary charter school in Rocklin founded by proponents of WSCA.

"They've done very well academically and it makes sense for them to expand it to junior high school and high school students," Gaines said.

"I was there to express support for charter schools generally and the academy specifically and to encourage both side to work out an agreement that will work for them," he said.

RUSD Board President Steve Paul said that with a petition of close 1,000 pages long, the Board would need the 30 days allotted to review it.

Among the concerns brought up by Paul was that the WSCA would have seventh and eighth graders on a high school campus - either Rocklin High or Whitney High.

"Our high schools aren't designed to house seventh and eighth graders," Paul said. "I don't know logistically how that is going to work."

"Each high school already has about 1,700 kids. For years we've wanted to help them get their own facility and they said ‘no' to us over and over again," he said adding, "Zero parents have come to me and asked about this other than the Rocklin Academy parents."

Speaking at the hearing, Paul said there are "some glaring differences between your interpretation of the petition and ours. You guys interpret Prop. 39 one way and we interpret it something completely 100 percent different."

Principal proponent of the WSCA and Executive Director of Rocklin Academy, Dave Patterson, thought the presentation went well.

"The Board listened, they asked a series of questions, they recognized the quality of our petition," he said.

"One of the first speakers was a new parent to us. She's a counselor at a community college. She spoke in favor of the Academy saying it would be good preparation for any college, Patterson said."

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