Dehesa renews Heights Charter Resource Center by Mary York

Following an hour of public comment, the Dehesa Elemen­tary School District voted to renew the Heights Charter Resource Center charter.

The June 13 meeting drew teachers, parents, administra­tors and board members from both Alpine Unified School District and Heights Charter to discuss the legality and con­sequences of the charter’s loca­tion in Alpine.

AUSD Superintendent Rich Newman said Heights Charter Resource Center is operating outside the law by setting up outside its parents’ district.

Following an hour of public comment, the Dehesa Elemen­tary School District voted to renew the Heights Charter Resource Center charter.

The June 13 meeting drew teachers, parents, administra­tors and board members from both Alpine Unified School District and Heights Charter to discuss the legality and con­sequences of the charter’s loca­tion in Alpine.

AUSD Superintendent Rich Newman said Heights Charter Resource Center is operating outside the law by setting up outside its parents’ district.

“The district must operate within the law and the unavail­ability clause, which Dehesa is claiming as the reason why the charter must remain in Al­pine, is not a legal fence,” said Newman. “We filed a public re­cords request with Dehesa and the Heights and have yet to re­ceive a complete response.”

AUSD sued the Dehesa Ele­mentary School District three years ago over similar grounds.

“We find it very disconcert­ing that the charter school determined that there were no suitable facilities to house its programs within Dehesa’s boundaries, even though there appears to be sufficient space at Dehesa here,” said Newman.

Newman encouraged the Heights Charter Resource Center to put forth a good-faith effort to find alternative facilities in Dehesa and asked that the Dehesa board take ac­tion to non-renew unless HCRC ceased all actions in Alpine.

“Alpine’s desire is to work co­operatively with Dehesa infor­mally and without the need to initiate formal legal proceed­ings,” Newman said. “Should this matter be left unresolved, Alpine reserves all of its rights under the law to take any and all actions it deems appropriate to enforce them.”

Resource Center director Diana Whyte said that charter school had conducted multiple facility searches before choosing the Alpine location.

“I would like to officially ask Al­pine to quit lying that we are there illegally,” she said. “There are no fa­cilities in Dehesa that are even com­parable to the size of the space that we lease.”

The Dehesa board voted unani­mously to renew the charter.

“We have been in declining enroll­ment,” said Cindy White, president of the Dehesa school board. “We’ve been where you are, we do feel that frustration and we do sympa­thize. But we hear that they’re not even planning on sending their kids to your schools any­way, so I don’t get your endgame with your threats and innuendo. To me, it seems like having the Heights in your community is good for your community. It brings in outside-of-Alpine dol­lars to your community.”

In addition to the legal grounds for a charter in Alpine, Whyte also said that the HCRC has performed very well aca­demically.

“Our test scores have for the most part outranked any of the scores in our neighboring schools and in East County,” she said.

Founding parent and lead pe­titioner for the original charter Jen Hamilton said the HCRC has benefited both of her chil­dren immensely. Her oldest son just finished his freshman year at River Valley Charter School after finishing eighth grade at the HCRC, she said.

“We actually had a River Val­ley teacher contact the Heights teachers to say what a differ­ence their children make in the classroom,” said Hamilton.

“This is one of the best char­ter schools in all of San Diego County and they say, ‘We can see a difference in your children’ and it’s because of the teachers.”

Hamilton said she also has a sixth grader with special needs and has been impressed with how her daughter’s needs have been met at HCRC.

“I know as a parent living in Alpine my children would not go to any other school in the AUSD. If the Heights didn’t ex­ist, we would find another char­ter,” she said. “This is the best option for my children.”

Much of the debate centered around the budgets of both districts, to the frustration of HCRC parents.

“At the time my husband and I chose to remove our children from the district, there were ma­ny things that had happened to help solidify our decision,” said Kellie Peel, a board member of HCRC. “One of the many rea­sons my husband and I chose to remove our children was a comment made to us during one of their board meetings about four years ago. This individual looked at my husband and my­self and said that if we pulled our five children out of the dis­trict, they would lose upwards of $50,000. Our children are more than dollar amounts.”

Alpine Elementary school teacher Gayle Malone said HCRC is leaching resources from AUSD.

“It is a sad day when one pub­lic school district thrives at the expense of another,” she said.