Ontario-Montclair board turns down charter school application
ONTARIO - Ontario-Montclair School District board members turned down the petition for a new charter school at Thursday night's meeting.
The board voted to deny the petition for the Life Empowerment International Charter Academy because the application was incomplete and deficient in several areas.
Four board members voted to deny. Paul Avila abstained.
"The petition itself was not qualified," board member Sam Crowe said. "When you read it, you went away with they simply weren't ready to provide an education for students."
The board voted to deny the petition for the Life Empowerment International Charter Academy because the application was incomplete and deficient in several areas.
Four board members voted to deny. Paul Avila abstained.
"The petition itself was not qualified," board member Sam Crowe said. "When you read it, you went away with they simply weren't ready to provide an education for students."
Before the vote, lead petitioner and Life Changing Ministries pastor David Horn asked board members during public comment not to follow the district staff's recommendation to deny the charter.
Horn also said he was upset, angry and disappointed with the district and how he was handled.
"I started this journey a year ago hoping to make a collaboration," Horn said. "I've held my peace on this ... we did everything we could and if we are denied we are going to go to the county."
A provision in the Education Code allows a charter school applicant, when turned down by a school district, to ask for sponsorship by a county superintendent of schools' office or the state Department of Education, said Jill Hammond, OMSD's assistant superintendent of learning support services.
Areas of concern district officials based their decision on:
The charter school presented an unsound educational program for the pupils.
The petition does not contain the number of signatures required by Education Code.
The petition does not contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of all the elements required by law.
The petitioners are unlikely to successfully implement the program set forth by the petition.
The goal of Life Empowerment International Charter Academy, which expected to serve 200 students from kindergarten through third grade, is to empower students in technology, the country and as entrepreneurs, according to supporters.
If approved the school would have opened the 2010-11 school year at Life Changing Ministries, 1801 E. D St., Ontario.
The charter petition proposed to eventually serve grades K-5 with an enrollment of 320 students.
The charter petition had been submitted two other times this year. In both occasions, Horn was told the district would recommend against approval and he withdrew his application.
Horn said Friday the charter board will look at all its options, one of which is resubmitting the charter petition to the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools for an appeal to overturn the board's decision.
Even if it is denied at the county level, petitioners can go even to the state for an appeal, but the proposal has to be submitted in the same form it was presented to the district, Hammond said.
"Pastor David Horn has the best of intentions and I know he's doing the best for the community and I'm disappointed the petition is not meeting the educational needs for our district," she said.
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