Rehab school has charter denied

Sequoia hasn’t seen the last of Daytop Village, Inc., however. It will be back July 1 to resubmit its charter after its current non-public school is closed, said Daytop Executive Director Orville Roache. Roache added the denial given was on an old education proposal given to the County Office of Education in 2005, not the restructured plan proposed to Sequoia.

The school board unanimously denied the petition — as recommended by Superintendent Pat Gemma. Two reasons were cited for the denial: The school acted as a private school making it against state law to charter and it would be impossible to supply the teachers to provide the proposed curriculum. Daytop was not given a chance to review or respond to the recommendation prior to the board’s vote Wednesday.

"I’ve never seen a denial with more prejudice and biased,” said Roache. "The review spoke to the petition that was presented to the county. They raised issues that were addressed line by line in the new petition. ... This was also an unfair forum. We were not given a copy of the report. We had no idea what to respond to. It was highly unusual.”

Daytop Village, Inc. petitioned the Sequoia Union High School District for a charter with plans to open a 58-student, three-classroom school by September after being denied by the County Office of Education last year. Daytop appealed the denial to the state, but later withdrew the appeal when a state official suggested the plan be revised to address the specific needs of the students Daytop serves. Currently, Daytop runs a nonpublic school — which is a publicly funded school without public enrollment.

School officials did not agree that the school was in fact not private. State law prohibits a private school from converting into a publicly-funded charter school. A nonpublic school, on the other hand, is not prohibited.

Daytop in Redwood City began serving students in San Mateo County 1988 in addition to the substance abuse and therapeutic services offered. Daytop was originally ran by the county before becoming a non-public school in 2003.

Gemma cited research done during last year’s County Office of Education questioning of the classification of the school. During the public comment portion prior to the recommendation, Roache read various education codes to clarify the non-public school status. He also read a list of private institutions granted public charters in the past year. In the end, Gemma concluded the school functioned more like a private school and the board agreed.

Legally the district cannot charter this school, said Trustee Gordon Lewin.

"Assuming that didn’t exist, it’s unlikely Daytop would be able to put forward the program,” Lewin said.

In Gemma’s report, he said Daytop would not hire the proposed three teachers if it wasn’t filled to capacity. If that were to happen, Gemma thought it unlikely the school could successfully offer the proposed curriculum.

On the contrary, Roche believes the problem will be that too many students will need such help. In October 2005, Daytop’s Board of Directors voted to close the nonpublic school due to declining enrollment of the special needs children it serves. The state funding is specifically for these students. Daytop picks up the bill for all other students enrolled.

Once the school closes, Roache argued the district will not have an existing school to use as the basis of the denial. It also means the 43 students currently educated at Daytop will begin attending Woodside High School.

Daytop Principal Michael Malone anticipated this move to be detrimental to most students who will not be able to succeed in a large-school environment.

The proposal, which will be returned to the district this summer, would be an outpatient program open to students not in the Daytop program.

Students could volunteer for the program or be recommended for it. Treatment would be included in a portion of the day-to-day activities, such as drug and family education. A majority of the treatment activities will be offered after school to both students and their families.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.