The Española Military Academy lost its right to operate as a publicly-funded charter school when the state Public Education Commission voted Dec. 11 to deny its charter renewal.
“I wasn’t in the military, but I know where the buck stops,” Commissioner Aileen Garcia said. “We are doing a disservice to the students because we are not doing as a charter school what we said we would do. I can’t vote to renew this charter based on the evidence we have.”
Garcia was one of four commissioners who voted to deny the charter as opposed to three who voted in support of the Academy.
The Academy will continue to operate through the end of the school year, and it has the right to appeal the Commission’s decision within 30 days to Education Secretary Veronica Garcia.
“I’m gonna fight the good fight all the way to the end,” Academy Headmaster Steve Baca said.
Baca said the Academy’s Board of Governors will meet Wednesday (12/17) to consider whether to appeal the decision.
During last week’s hearing, Baca offered point-by-point rebuttals to the state Education Department’s reasons for recommending a charter denial (see sidebar). He said during the last year and a half, the school has been orphaned by the Española School District.
“Once administrations changed, suddenly you’re on your own,” Baca said.
Baca acknowledged problems with high staff turnover and poor academic performance. The Academy “stumbled out of the gate,” but is on track and seeing academic improvements, Baca said. He emphasized that he has only been on board since August 2007, and has an entirely new staff.
“I am asking you to look at the last year and a half, and give us five more years,” Baca said.
Before its vote the Commission also heard emotional appeals from students and parents, who spoke of the school’s emphasis on discipline and leadership skills. Several advocates said the school offers an alternative to Española’s mainstream public schools, which have let down so many students.
Eighth-grader Christy Lovato said the Academy’s small class sizes make it feel like a family, and she’s seen students gain self-esteem — a common refrain during the hearing.
“The academics aren’t perfect, but there has been a lot of improvement,” Lovato said.
Her mother, Brenda Lovato, came armed with posters displaying the Academy’s community cleanup work and the failing test scores of the elementary schools that feed students into the Academy — that’s the reason the Academy’s scores are so low, she said.
Mac Gonzales, of Chamita, said his son Jonathan has excelled at the Academy.
“He made honor roll this semester,” Gonzales said. “Before, we couldn’t get him to go to school. Now he doesn’t want to stay home.”
Gonzales said he never considered sending his son to Española middle school, the District’s only option for seventh and eighth graders.
“We’ve seen actual brawls,” Gonzales said. “In that type of environment a student is not going to learn. They feel safe in (the Academy).”
It was unclear what effect the testimony had on the Commission. Aileen Garcia said everyone was impressed with the students, who have been put in their current predicament by the adults in charge. Garcia said she felt bad for the students. She had less sympathy for the Academy’s administration.
“There have been five years to bring up their scores,” Garcia said.
The Academy only came before the Commission for approval because it wanted to be chartered directly under the state Education Department, outside the authority of the Española School Board. The Academy’s current five-year charter was authorized by the Board in December 2003, and remains valid through the end of the current 2008-09 school year. The school opened in August 2004 as an alternative to the Española School District’s secondary schools.
Had the Academy chosen to renew its charter under the Board’s authority, it may have survived. Four of five current Board members have said they would likely have supported a renewal application.
The Commission unanimously approved the renewal applications of the four charter schools which preceded the Academy at the hearing — three in Albuquerque and one in Las Cruces. The one immediately preceding the Academy, Cesar Chavez Community School in Albuquerque, received hearty praise from commissioners for raising the academic scores of its non-traditional, at-risk student population — a stark contrast to the Academy’s presentation.
Of the seven charter schools who have sought state-authorized renewal charters, the Academy is the only one to be denied, state Education Department spokeswoman Beverly Friedman said. The Commission denied a start-up charter application for Cottonwood Classical Preparatory last year, and Veronica Garcia overturned that decision on appeal, Friedman said.
Dissenter
During the discussion at last week’s hearing, the Academy’s most passionate advocate on the Commission was perhaps the most unlikely — Dennis Roch, who was recently elected to the state legislature as a Republican from Tucumcari.
Roch said the Commission is usually a school’s harshest critic, holding it to a higher standard than Department staff do. He himself had posed some tough questions for the four charter schools whose application reviews preceded the Academy’s.
“I’m finding myself on the other side of that coin,” Roch said. “Your recommendation to deny took me a little by surprise.”
Roch said giving the Academy a “material violation” for not obtaining formal permission before making curricular changes was harsh — all they had to do was request a waiver, he said.
“The jump they might have had to make was write a letter,” Roch said. “That sounds harsh to me.”
He also challenged Assistant Education Secretary Don Duran’s assessment that the Academy is “not a viable option for families in the Española community.” That statement seemed to be dropped into Duran’s report without much data to support it, Roch said.
Duran admitted that it was his opinion, and said the school is viable for the students who enroll. But he looked at the evidence and concluded that a viable school would not have declining enrollment, Duran said.
“That was kind of my editorial piece as I looked at the totality,” Duran said.
Academy Board President Pat Trujillo said enrollment has leveled off at around 150 students because the Academy isn’t for everyone — only certain students thrive in a highly structured and disciplined environment. Roch agreed.
However, if current trends continue, the Academy will be lucky to have that many students fill grades six through 12. Only three students enrolled in the Academy’s entry level grade this school year.
Roch wasn’t entirely sold on the Academy’s case. He brought up the school’s falling math scores, and said the Commission has to measure the school by the goals it set for itself.
When Baca said he and his staff are screaming for a chance to prove themselves, Roch turned the tables and put the focus on the students.
“What of the last four graduating classes?,” Roch asked. “What chance do they have?”
Roch said he again found himself in a strange position — he usually champions holding schools to high academic standards, but in this case there is some data suggesting the school is improving.
Roch announced his intention to vote in favor of the Academy. With him were Kathryn Krivitzky, who said the Academy serves a unique purpose in Española, and Mavis Price, who said the Academy is headed in the right direction.
“You were lost, now you’re trying to find your way,” Price said.
Aileen Garcia seemed to be the swing vote. She asked for clarification on issues regarding the Academy’s admissions and employment policies, got reassuring answers from Baca, and then suggested holding a closed-door session to discuss the matter with Department attorneys. The attorneys intervened and advised Commission Chairwoman Catherine Smith that the entire nature of the discussion was improper — commissioners could no longer direct questions toward Baca or Trujillo with a live motion on the table.
So Smith called for a vote.
Roch made a last-ditch effort to prolong the discussion, clarifying that if they voted the motion down, they could reopen the floor for questions and then introduce a new motion.
But it never happened. Garcia sided with Smith, Midge Graham and Millie Pogna for a four-vote majority, and the motion to deny the charter passed.
‘Excuses’
The Academy’s future is uncertain, and not only because Veronica Garcia has the final authority to approve or deny a charter.
Although the Academy chose to seek a charter outside the District, the District wants to take over the school entirely.
Española School District Superintendent David Cockerham said he would like to see the school continue serving middle and high school students in a military atmosphere.
“I believe that the charter school is a viable school, and it should become an academy within the District,” Cockerham said, emphasizing that he was not speaking on behalf of the Española School Board.
Asked about Baca and Trujillo’s complaints regarding the District’s abandonment of the Academy, Cockerham said the District thad its own problems with special education, and needed to correct those first.
“When they hire inferior employees to do jobs, when we warned them not to do that, we have to protect ourselves legally,” Cockerham said.
Cockerham said the District has provided help in the form of accounting, transportation and cafeteria services.
“They can make all the excuses in the world, but what did they have — five years?,” Cockerham said.
The state Education Department recommended denying the Academy’s charter based on multiple alleged violations of its charter and of state laws governing education. Academy Headmaster Steve Baca offered the following arguments in defense of the school:
• Allegation: The Española Military Academy did not obtain approval from the Española School Board before making fundamental changes to its curriculum.
Academy’s Response: Baca said the Academy had implied consent to switch from a traditional math curriculum to a self-directed computer software program, long before the relationship between the Academy and the Board fell apart. As the Academy expanded, it had to find a new math curriculum because the one listed in the charter, Saxon, is only applicable through the seventh grade, Baca said. Former Española School District superintendent Vernon Jaramillo pointed the school in the direction of the computer-based E20/20, he said. In addition, the former School Board — which had a faction led by Academy supporter Leroy Salazar — approved a legislative appropriation to the Academy for the purchase of new computers and educational software, Baca said. It was perhaps a “wrong assumption” that the Academy didn’t need formal Board approval to implement the computer-based curriculum, Baca said. All of these events took place before Baca was hired.
The other curricular change came in the cadre. They are the Academy employees who teach military drill skills and enforce campus discipline. Baca said the school upgraded from using non-certified National Guardsmen to a certified JROTC program. Baca argued that the Academy didn’t need permission, because the transition was already in the charter. The Academy’s charter does state that students will be associated with JROTC programs and refers to that program as the model for military instruction.
• Allegation: The Academy did not submit records showing test results from the WRAT and Stanford 9 assessments, which are mandated in its charter.
Response: Baca said the Department never asked for the WRAT or Stanford 9 results. The Academy began using the MAPS testing tool when the District switched over to that test in 2007, and those scores were submitted, Baca said.
• Allegation: Academy students made progress in reading, but in math, the percentage of proficient students dropped from 5 percent in 2006-07 to less than 2 percent in 2007-08. The Department also reported a significant drop in test scores between last school year and the current school year.
Response: In a memo to the Commission, Baca wrote that literacy has been the school’s focus and is a prerequisite for success in math. Failing to meet state standards is not grounds for revoking a charter, Baca wrote. As for the drop between last year and this year, Baca said he voluntarily submitted extra testing data from the current school year and it was used against the Academy. The scores dropped dramatically this fall because 28 of the Academy’s 30 new students were at a beginner level in math, Baca said.
• Allegation: The Academy could not immediately provide official meeting minutes to verify whether the Board had approved the hiring of Baca’s sister. Assistant Education Secretary Don Duran called this violation of the state Open Meetings Act the most serious of the Department’s findings.
Response: Baca said the secretary who had the keys to the filing cabinet was out on emergency medical leave, and the Academy provided the minutes within two days of the Department’s site visit.
• Allegation: The Academy substituted military science courses for physical education.
Response: Baca said this is not true; all Academy graduates are required to complete one year of physical education.
• Allegation: Academy policies violate federal employment laws.
Response: Baca said the policies in question have never been implemented, so no laws were broken, and he is working to revise them.
• Allegation: The Academy is violating state law by failing to provide services for students with limited English skills.
Response: Baca said he contacted Department staff for advice on this issue after the District refused to help. He is now training current staff members to receive the necessary certification, he said.