Proposed Wildomar Charter School Proponents Push For Board Approval As LETA Urges Denial

Nearly 50 parents, educators and students representing a proposed Wildomar charter school went before the Lake Elsinore Unified School District governing board Thursday night to make a case that their program is an asset to the community.

Jeff and Aurien Jefferies have filed a petition with the district to open Global Citizens Academy at the start of the 2013-14 school year.

Foreign language, the arts and technology are the backbone of the charter, Aurien told the board.

“I’m hoping it will … put Wildomar on the map,” she said of the proposed K-6 charter’s curriculum.

Global Citizens Academy would be located at the current site of Mercury Online Academy’s Learning Center, 34862 Monte Vista Drive. Since January, the Jefferies’ young sons have attended the charter school, which offers online and classroom instruction. A week after they enrolled their sons, however, Aurien said she learned the school was closing its learning center.

The Jefferies are working with the Mercury Online educators and staff to keep the curriculum alive under the proposed charter.

Currently, Mercury Online's Wildomar location has 130 students, half who attend online-only and half who attend the learning center, according to Tammy Kirkpatrick, the head of the school. There are five teachers who work at the learning center with K-6 students, and all five teachers are onboard to teach with Global Citizens Academy, she added.

“They want to go in this direction,” she told the LEUSD board Thursday.

But Bill Cavanaugh, president of the Lake Elsinore Teachers Association, told the governing board members the association “would urge the district to deny the petition.”

He argued the charter petition features an administrative budget that’s too high compared to the budget allotted for teachers.

“I read the petition with an open mind, but certain red flags popped up,” he said.

Cavanaugh was also concerned the proposed charter’s strategy of contracting with the LEUSD to provide services for special needs students would financially burden the district.

During Thursday night’s meeting, the board was required to acknowledge receipt of the charter's petition but it now has 60 days to review the document and either approve or deny.

According to the district’s legal counsel, it is expected the governing board will discuss the petition publicly during the June 20 regularly scheduled meeting.

Mercury Online is a national program and the LEUSD does not have oversight authority over it, but the proposed Global Citizens Academy would be an independent charter school located inside the district’s boundaries and therefore would fall under its umbrella.

There are currently two charter schools operating within LEUSD boundaries and overseen by the district: Wildomar's Sycamore Academy of Science and Cultural Arts, serving K-6 students, and Southern California Online Academy, an online school serving K-12 students.