Sacramento City Teachers Association
5300 Elvas Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95819
Contact: Tom Rogers, president Sacramento City Teachers Association, at 916-452-4591 or
Lori Easterling, SCTA executive director, 916-801-5899 (cell) or 916-452-4591.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SACRAMENTO - Sacramento parents and teachers have filed a suit in local Superior Court alleging Sacramento Superintendent Jim Sweeney and the school board violated state law in pretending to close Sacramento High as a way of sidestepping legal procedures for converting it to a charter school.
"Supt. Sweeney and the Board hastily and illegally closed Sacramento High, the second oldest school West of the Mississippi with a rich history of achievement," says Linda Hayes, whose daughter, Megan, attends the school. "Even worse, Supt. Sweeney and the Board violated their sacred trust - our children's future - by violating state law and ignoring the voices and expertise of parents and teachers."
The suit, to be filed today, points to two causes of action, all related to the district's failure to follow state law when it pretended to close Sacramento High School and then "re-open" it as a "new charter" school.
The plaintiffs are requesting a writ of mandate and a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, legal remedies that would keep Sacramento High open and reject any charter school applications for the site that do not include signatures of at least 50% of the school's teachers, as required by state law.
"The law requires that when any existing public school is going to be converted to a charter school, the charter petition must contain the signatures of at least half of the teachers at the school," stresses Diane Ross, legal counsel filing the documents. "The legislature put that 50% requirement in law to ensure that teachers would have the power to decide whether any proposed charter school conversion is in the best interests of their students."
The lawsuit charges that by hastily closing the school and then using the ruse of opening a "new school," the superintendent and the board violated Education Code Section 47605(a)(2). Conversion charters are also required to give enrollment preference to students in the attendance area of the school. A 'new' charter school is barred from giving students in the attendance area any preference.
The suit comes on the heels of a public opinion survey by Decision Research that shows that Sacramento voters oppose the board's actions that shut down the school and trust their teachers when it comes to the needs of the students and the school.
Specifically, the polling found that 59% of voters in the school district say the board acted too quickly to close the high school and 56% oppose the decision to close the school. In addition, 73% consider classroom teachers the most reliable source of information, while only 47% believe Supt. Sweeney to be a reliable source of information about the high school's needs.