The Abridged version:
- Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools is trying to rebound, after a scathing state audit this summer found a bevy of violations and a $180 million bill.
- Twin Rivers Unified School District, which oversees the charter organization, voted Tuesday to advance the process of revoking Highlands’ charter.
- The organization’s new director, a former Sacramento City Unified superintendent, said it has cleaned house, with new curriculum and a restructured board.
New leadership at Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools is seeking a second chance for its embattled organization.
First, it has a $180 million debt to the state and a resistant school board to get through.
The charter school system for adults — many of whom are refugees, immigrants or formerly incarcerated — came under fire after a state audit this June found a bevy of violations. The infractions included wasteful spending, inappropriate hiring practices and receiving funds for which it was not eligible.
The Highlands Community Charter School, which provides classroom-based instruction, and the California Innovative Career Academy, an independent study school, are both under the Highlands umbrella, with locations across Sacramento.
On Tuesday, the Twin Rivers Unified School Board, which oversees the organization, voted to advance a months-long process of revoking Highlands’ charter.
Cleaning house
Twin Rivers Unified sent the school system a notice of violation in June, giving Highlands about three months to show the district proof of reform.
Jonathan Raymond, a former Sacramento City Unified School District superintendent who took the reins at Highlands shortly after the audit’s release, said he has made efforts in that direction.
Early in his tenure, Raymond pushed the current school system board to step aside. So far, four members have resigned. The remaining three will exit too, he said, once new trustees are appointed later this year.
Other changes include revised curriculum, laying off more than 600 staff who did not meet credentialing requirements and pausing operations at school sites not currently in compliance.
“Do I wish and do we all wish that we could be time travelers and sometimes go back in time and change the decisions? Of course,” Raymond said in comments to the school board. “But we don’t have that luxury.”
Twin Rivers Unified moves forward with revocation
Still, not enough progress has been made, according to Twin Rivers Unified.
As an overflow crowd looked on, the school board voted unanimously (with one trustee absent) Tuesday to continue in the process of revoking the organization’s charter, after determining that Highlands had not properly remedied their list of concerns.
The next step is a public hearing tentatively scheduled for Dec. 2, followed by a final decision by late December or January.
“Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that all schools operating within Twin Rivers’ umbrella, whether district or charter, are honest stewards of public resources,” said Christine Jefferson, school board president. “We are not there yet.”
State auditors had found in their report that in addition to Highlands’ deficiencies, Twin Rivers Unified had not provided adequate oversight of the charter.
Debt to the state
The Sacramento-based charter system received about $180 million in funding over two years for which it was ineligible, according to the audit. The state is now seeking to recoup that sum.
Raymond said in a response letter to the governor and state superintendent of public instruction he is working to recover past leadership’s payments that the audit deemed wasteful spending, including a $2,600 flight to Paris and $80,000 registration fee for a leadership conference in Maui.
It is unclear who would foot the bill to the state if Highlands were to shut down. Twin Rivers Unified did not respond to a request for clarification.
Ex-employees still doubtful
Lindsay Curtis worked at Highlands for seven years and has spoken publicly in the past about the issues she said she witnessed there.
She said Raymond reached out to her in October. When the pair met later that month, the new executive director explained to her changes he had so far made.
But Curtis was left unsatisfied, she said, largely because of a lack of management change below the board level.
“I haven’t seen what I think would give me hope that the school is going to change enough,” she said, noting that she is torn, seeing a need in the community for an adult school like Highlands.
Patrick Stevens, a former paraeducator and ESL teacher at Highlands’ online California Innovative Career Academy Charter School, said he does not believe the school system should be allowed to continue.
“The foundations of Highlands were rotten to the core,” said Stevens, who left the school this January after about three years there.
He added, “You don’t have anything left to salvage.”
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.