Group Seeks Autonomy for Adult School : Education: Petitioners point to provisions in the new charter schools act. The district board reacts coolly, and both sides air charges of mismanagement.

A group of teachers and administrators has launched a campaign to wrest control of the adult school from the Paramount Unified School District.

The group has petitioned the school board for autonomy under provisions of a new state law that permits public schools to be exempt from a wide range of state regulations and collective-bargaining agreements.

The charter schools act, which takes effect in January, is designed to give teachers and administrators more control over curriculum, especially innovative programs that serve low-achieving students.

The law would allow any school to adopt a charter--spelling out school goals and how it would be run--if a majority of the school’s teachers and the school board support the move.

“It is our emancipation proclamation from the district,” said Ed Quesada, director of the Paramount Adult Education Center. “The staff wanted the charter school so we can control our own destiny and really be accountable for our own funds.”

The Paramount Adult Education Center serves part-time adult students, most of whom are completing high school graduation requirements, learning English or getting job training.

The petition, presented at last week’s board meeting, was received coolly by district officials. They said that charter school proponents misinterpreted the new law.

The legislation was intended to provide a new way for school districts to work with local schools, not as a means for a school to secede, school board President Joseph M. Montoya III said.

“These petitioners have not worked with the district at all and seemingly have no interest in working with the board,” Montoya said. “They presented it as a fait accompli.”

Complicating the charter issue are charges of mismanagement from both sides. Quesada said the district has siphoned adult school funds for other district programs. School district officials, on the other hand, accused Quesada of squandering adult school money.

The school district placed Quesada on administrative leave with pay on Nov. 2. Also placed on leave were Vice Principal Luther Martinez and school secretary Sandy Cook.

District officials said they have been unhappy with adult school expenditures but would not comment on the suspensions.

Montoya said the district subsidized the adult school by $500,000 to $700,000 last year.

Quesada accused the district of suspending him because he supports the charter drive. “They figured if they removed us from office, we would never be able to finish the charter school petition,” Quesada said.

District Supt. Michele Lawrence said the board is scheduled to discuss the charter school petition at its meeting Tuesday. If the school board denies the charter petition, proponents may appeal to the county Board of Education, which has the final say.

A charter school does not have to follow numerous state regulations, according to the bill. The school can decide, for example, how many hours a student should attend school and would have greater powers over spending.

“We are looking at turning people loose,” said Deborah Connelly, education programs assistant for the state Department of Education. “We wanted to see what would happen if we wiped the slate clean and let (the school) figure out the rules, rather than having to go to the state or the district to ask for waivers for every single rule or regulation that you think is getting in the way of student learning.”

The Paramount petitioners said the charter school would be governed by an elected board of parents, teachers and students. Mre than 40 of the school’s 70 teachers signed the petition, said adult school teacher Richard Benavides, a petition organizer.

“You control your own budgets. You control your own destiny,” he said.

But state and district officials said that the law does not provide complete autonomy.

“As long as the school is getting public funds, the local school board is going to be responsible,” said Merrill Vargo, director of regional programs and special projects at the state Department of Education.

“The district can’t legally wash its hands of the adult school” or vice versa, Vargo said. The school board ultimately has the power to revoke a charter--which is valid for five years--if the school violates its charter, she added.

The law, which is intended to provide parents choices over what schools their children attend, prohibits forcing a student or teacher to participate in a charter school. That provision could create a snag in Paramount because the district has only one adult school. The district could be required to open another adult school, a costly proposition, Supt. Lawrence said.

The petition drive also came under criticism from John Burritt, executive director of the Paramount Teachers Assn. He called the charter plan a union-busting measure.

A charter school “administration could pay teachers whatever they want,” Burritt said.