In a four to one vote, on January 8 the Board of Trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District approved the petition of the MacArthur Park Charter School Board (MPCS) to open a TK–5 (Transitional Kindergarten through Fifth Grade) school in August 2026. The petitioners expect 218 students to open the school year. They have requested use of the Prestwood School site, which the Board had voted to close in June of this year. Location of the new charter school remains, however, undecided. Approval of the petition followed over three hours dedicated to that question, beginning with public comment which was limited by the Board to 90 seconds.
The trustees’ decision steamrolled the clear analysis in the District office staff report which advised against approving the MPCS petition. That report identified four of the eight standards of the California Education Code which the charter petitioners did not satisfy. Acting Superintendent Rena Seifts pointed out, as she presented a summary of the written report, that the staff which had prepared it “reflected 79 years of service in public education.” At the opening of the meeting, Valley of the Moon Teachers’ Association co-presidents Laura Hoban and Richelle Ryan stated the union’s opposition to the new charter proposal, explaining that while they value the strong advocates for public education who are bringing the petition, the teachers question whether the proposal aligns with long term stability goals for the District.
Trustee Catarina Landry opened the discussion in support of the MPCS petition, saying that her guiding light is “legal,” and the fact that the petitioners could take the denied petition to the County for approval, or even then to the State, where appeals are approved 7 out of 10 times. Landry said she agreed with the District staff’s findings but, “by not approving the petition, we’re losing control of our decisions.” Landry didn’t think there were legal grounds to deny the petition. She also asserted several times, “These are our students, these are taxpayers,” concluding that she didn’t want the decision to divide the community…