SAN MATEO COUNTY EDUCATORS REJECT BID FOR CHARTER SCHOOL FOR STUDENT ADDICTS

The San Mateo County Board of Education Wednesday night unanimously
denied a petition for a charter school to serve students addicted to
drugs and alcohol.

The Daytop Charter School would have supplemented the existing Daytop
Preparatory School, a non-public school that receives state funding
for special education programs but not for general education. The
Daytop Preparatory School will continue to operate privately despite
the ruling, serving students enrolled in Daytop's residential drug
and alcohol rehabilitation programs.

The board rejected the application on the grounds that "the
petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the
program set forth in the petition." Superintendent Jean Holbrook
cited recent compliance issues, complaints from referral agencies,
and a curriculum considered overly ambitious as evidence that the
preparatory school's operators are not prepared to successfully run a
charter school.

Daytop Executive Director Orville Roache brushed aside such claims.

"It's completely normal to have some compliance issues," he said
after the meeting. "It's normal even if you're a public school.
What's important is that you address them in a prompt and
professional manner, and we've done that."

Roache added, "The reality is that the county doesn't want to have
the responsibility of overseeing a charter school."

Holbrook said one of her main concerns with Daytop's application was
that the school proposed to provide as many as 35 students with
comprehensive education in many subjects, despite having only one
full-time teacher. She called the petition "unrealistic."

The board's decision came after more than an hour and a half of
testimony from Daytop students, graduates, teachers and
administrators. Several graduates said Daytop had saved their lives.

Some of the graduates who spoke worried that students suffering from
addiction would be left with nowhere to turn if the board denied the
charter. That provoked trustee Memo Morantes to ask Roache to clarify
that the preparatory school would continue to operate regardless of
the board's decision.

Turning toward the audience, Roache said, "We are still going to
provide educational services at Daytop."

Still, he said afterward, the decision is a blow to Daytop's goal of
expanding and improving its offerings. As a non-public school,
Daytop currently receives educational funding only for those of its
students who qualify for special education. But, he said, many of its
general education students are equally needful of the individual
attention and drug-free environment Daytop provides.

The decision quashes any chances of the charter school opening this
year, but Roache said Daytop will continue its efforts to obtain a
charter for the following year either by appealing the county's
decision or applying for sponsorship from a local school district
such as Sequoia Union High School.