Posted by
Mark on Friday, December 07, 2007 12:38:58 AM
On December 19, 2007, the Rocklin Unified School District (RUSD) will be holding a public hearing to discuss the granting of a charter for the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy. This school would be housed in the City of Rocklin
The Western Sierra Collegiate Academy (WSCA) is a 7 - 12 public choice charter school for Placer County. The Board of Directors of Rocklin Academy will govern the WSCA. Rocklin Academy is one of the top performing elementary schools in California.
The RUSD Board of Trustees must approve this charter petition for the WSCA to open in Rocklin. On June 19, 2007 RUSD Superintendent Kevin Brown indicated to Rocklin Academy Board President Wendy Boyd and Executive Director Dave Patterson that the RUSD will not support this charter. Superintendent Brown would only make this statement if he had the support of his Board of Trustees.
Rocklin City Councilman Scott Yuill is an advisor to the WSCA working group. In a previous posting, I questioned Mr. Yuill’s commitment to this charter school. How can Mr. Yuill be a supporter of the WSCA when he does not support the Rocklin taxpayer’s right to attend Rocklin Academy? Mr. Yuill agrees with the 5 anti-charter school Rocklin board members, slick attorney Todd Lowell, Steve Paul, the “Grand Poobah,” of the board, “deer in the headlights” Wendy Lang, the nice lady but very liberal Camille Maben, and I am only a Republican when I need an endorsement, Greg Daley, that not all Rocklin residents have the right to attend a school they paid the taxes to build. In fact they forced Rocklin Academy to have 20% enrollment outside Rocklin. Kids from outside Rocklin can attend this school but Rocklin residents cannot. Mr. Yuill, I thought you were a smart guy and would not support this travesty. Obviously I was wrong.
I questioned Mr. Yuill’s sincerity to the charter school cause in Rocklin in a previous post. Word on the street is Mr. Yuill has complained to a few people that if his commitment is going to be challenged in this blog, maybe he should not donate any of his time as an advisor to WSCA. This is the first time Mr. Yuill has been challenged in public. Because he raised so much money for his city council campaign last year nobody ever challenged him. Because of that money, I would say he bought his seat. Someone finally takes him to task and he cannot handle the truth. Maybe Mr. Yuill wanted to pad his resume as an advisor to the WSCA and use it for higher office.
I said this before, if Mr. Yuill really supports school choice in Rocklin, he would condemn the RUSD Board of Trustees for not allowing all Rocklin residence to attend Rocklin Academy. He has chosen not to.
That brings me back to my main point. I do not believe Mr. Yuill supports school choice. He endorsed the slick attorney, Todd Lowell and Grand Poobah, Steve Paul during last year’s election. Will Mr. Yuill stand up at the December 19th public hearing and request that the RUSD Board of Trustees support the charter for WSCA? If he does not, the Rocklin Academy Board of Directors should ask that he resign his position as an advisor.
I hope Mr. Yuill proves me wrong. This new charter school would be a great asset to the City of Rocklin.