Dublin High Supporters Tell County Ed Board: We Do Not Want A Charter High School

Dressed in red T-shirts that read "Unite for Dublin High," dozens of opponents of the proposed Tassajara Prep Charter School attended a public hearing Tuesday morning at the Alameda County Office of Education.

The hearing was on the petition of Tri-Valley Learning Corporation to open a charter high school in Dublin.

The Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, which runs the Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory High School that opened a year ago, wants to open the new school next fall. It would be the city's second high school and would begin in fall 2012 with a freshman class of 216 students. 

Bill Batchelor, chief operating officer of the corporation, and Julie Lassig, director of development, spoke on behalf of the proposed charter school.

Batchelor told the board that the school is "very well supported," but acknowledged that no supporters could be present at the meeting. He said that was primarily because parent supporters are worried there could be ramifications if they publicaly support the charter. He also said the meeting time, 10 a.m. in Hayward, was inconvenient.

The board apparently had offered the option of holding an evening meeting at a later date, but Batchelor said that didn't work because of Tassajara Prep's tight timeline to open.

Batchelor was adamant that letters of support would be sent to the board before it makes a decision.

"We are very excited about the type of diversity in student population that we're seeing interested in enrolling in the school. We've had great parent and student support," said Batchelor.

Among the nearly 40 people who showed up to oppose the petition were Superintendent Stephen Hanke, Principal Carol Shimizu, Board President Dan Cunningham and board members Greg Tomlinson, Amy Miller and Sean Kenney. 

"The community overwhelmingly does not support this petition," said Cunningham.

Shimizu spoke on behalf of Dublin High and said how proud she is to be its principal.

"There is no reason for any other choice. Dublin High offers it all. We are Dublin," said Shimizu.

Parents and a Dublin High student also spoke out.

"How is this acceptable? How is it acceptable to take a rising high school with test scores that are ranking among the top in the state over the last few years and knowingly and intentionally allow it to be damaged by this petition?" questioned parent Michelle McDonald.

"There simply is no need for Tassajara Prep. Dublin High offers everything that a student needs," said Dublin High's student body president Tatum Wheeler, holding a petition she said was signed by nearly 1,000 students who are against the charter school.

In October, a the petition, following a in September in which dozens of parents and students turned out against it.

Among DUSD staff members’ findings were that the petition’s supporting signatures could not be qualified, its expenditure and enrollment projections were flawed and it failed to serve special needs students.

The first petition for the proposed charter school was denied by both the Dublin Unified School District and the Alameda County Office of Education (see attached PDF for the report) last year. Tri-Valley Learning Corporation was in the process of appealing those decisions to the state when it withdrew the application in April.

The Alameda Board of Education will vote on the petition at a meeting on Jan. 10.

Click here to read Tassajara Prep's updated petition.

— Patch freelance writer Charles Nguyen contributed to this report.