Posted by
Mark on Friday, July 11, 2008 2:22:33 AM
On July 16, 2008 the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy (WSCA) will be resubmitting their charter petition to the Rocklin School District. Last March the Rocklin School Board rejected their petition unanimously.
WSCA is a public tuition-free charter school of choice for students in Rocklin and Placer County.
In the July 10 edition of the Placer Herald, Superintendent Kevin Brown said the Rocklin School board is not anti-charter. They are very anti-charter along with their buddies on the Rocklin City Council. For example, the Rocklin School Board forced Rocklin Academy (a K-6 charter school) into a possible illegal agreement that requires Rocklin Academy to accept 20% of their enrollment from outside Rocklin. We have hundreds of families on the waiting list who want to send their children to the Academy. We pay taxes to build elementary schools in Rocklin. While we pay the taxes and the Rocklin School Board will not allow Rocklin residents to attend a school they built. They have placed a very large tax on many Rocklin families. The Rocklin City Council has supported this tax.
WSCA will provide parents in Rocklin and the surrounding communities with another choice on how they want their children educated. The Rocklin School Board, like the Rocklin City Council wants you to believe they know what is best for you and your family. I believe the individual family knows what is best for them and not the politicians.
This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. Republican Congressional Candidate Tom McClintock and Democrat Congressional Candidate Charlie Brown both support the WSCA.
I have blogged on how the Rocklin School Board is anti-charter. I hope I am wrong, but they will probably vote against the WSCA charter again on July 16. We all know the California Teacher’s Association (CTA) is against charter schools. Let’s not forget the current members of the Rocklin School Board have accepted over $20,000 in campaign donations from the CTA during the last 2 elections. We have a school board that marches to the tune of the CTA. Remember the teacher that choked a student last year? The CTA came in and cut a deal with the school board. The teacher is still teaching in Rocklin.
The Rocklin City Council had a chance to show some real leadership and publicly support the WSCA. Not one member of the city council showed up at the public hearing last March. Let’s not forget Mr. “Resume Builder,” Scott Yuill is an advisor to the WSCA. He would not even make a public statement supporting the charter. Are these the types of leaders we want in Rocklin? School Board President Steve Paul likes to brag about the good relationship between the Rocklin School Board and the Rocklin City Council.
This November we have an opportunity to change the imperial nature of both the Rocklin School Board and the Rocklin City Council. The voters of Rocklin can take back their city by not re-electing Peter Hill, George Magnuson, and Brett Storey. We can also stop the CTA from running our school district be not re-electing Greg Daley and Camille Maben.
Mark Klang
Rocklin Resident