After hanging the Española Military Academy out to dry earlier this year, the Española School Board is throwing its full support behind the embattled charter school.
The Board voted Feb. 4 to approve a $364,000 legislative capital outlay appropriation for the Academy that legislators came close to scrapping because the Board had rejected it in June 2008 (see sidebar), and a letter to state Education Secretary Veronica Garcia requesting that she reinstate the Academy’s charter.
The move came a day after a school board election in which Board Vice President Floyd Archuleta kept his seat and candidate Coco Archuleta was elected to replace Board President Joe Romero, both without opposition. Coco Archuleta’s opponent, former Española Housing Authority Director Rick Vigil, dropped out of the race in December. Nick Naranjo, whom the Academy is paying $33,000 for two months of lobbying this year, had said early on he would support Vigil in the race, then declined shortly before Vigil’s withdrawal to endorse either candidate.
Charter Renewal
A letter from the Board recommending that Garcia renew the Academy’s charter passed only after other Board members remarked Romero had drafted and signed the letter on behalf of the Board prior to the vote.
“He included the entire Board in the letter and expected us to rubber-stamp it,” Board member Leonard Valerio said. “He and (Floyd Archuleta) got together to write that letter. He should ask for permission first and ask people’s stance.”
Valerio and Board Secretary Joann Salazar abstained from voting; Andrew Chavez joined Romero and Archuleta, all three allies of the Naranjo political faction, in voting in favor of the letter. Romero pointed out he did not mail the letter until after the meeting.
“It is our request that you look favorably upon the Academy’s recharter application which would allow it to continue its operation as an alternative source of education for Española Valley students,” Joe Romero wrote in the letter.
Garcia is scheduled to hear on Feb. 16 the Academy’s appeal of a Dec. 11 decision by the state Public Education Commission to reject the school’s request to be chartered directly by the state Education Department starting July 1 (see related story above).
If Garcia upholds the Commission’s ruling, the Academy will be unable to continue operating as a publicly-funded charter school after June 30. Garcia can overturn the Commission’s ruling if she finds it was “arbitrary and capricious” or it violates any state or federal laws. She has until March 9 to make a decision, which would be final and binding, according to state law.
“The decision’s still up to (Garcia),” Academy Board President Patrick Trujillo said. “Obviously we’re very pleased the Board sent her a letter supporting us. What impact that will have, we’ll have to wait and see.”
In his letter, Romero excused some of the Academy’s violations the Department had cited as reasons to reject school’s charter.
The Department’s Charter School Division argued in its recommendation to deny the charter that when the Academy made fundamental changes to its curriculum, it should have asked the District’s Board to modify the Academy’s charter to reflect those changes. Romero wrote that District administrators were aware of those changes — particularly since the District helped fund some of them — meaning there was “no need for formal amendments to the charter.”
Romero acknowledged in his letter the Board and the Academy’s Governing Board have had a contentious relationship.
“While there might have been some issues between the Academy and the Española Public Schools, we believe those issues are resolvable through a more cooperative alliance to better serve our students,” Romero wrote.
Romero’s replacement on the Board, Coco Archuleta, does not share Romero’s opinion.
Archuleta objected to the Academy hiring Naranjo, chided its Board for failing to cooperate with the District’s Board in the past and made clear his distaste for the group of former city officials and politicians on the Academy’s Board. The Academy was founded by former Española mayor Richard Lucero and its Board is headed by Trujillo, a former city councilor.
“I think the Academy is a good idea, but I don’t think its being run — well, it’s being run by a political group,” Archuleta said. “If the personalities changed, they’d be really easy to work with. If they changed their Board, I don’t think I’d have any problem with them.”