PACOIMA : Charter School Vote Is Postponed Again

Citing concerns brought by local and state teachers union representatives, faculty members at Vaughn Street School in Pacoima have again postponed a vote on whether to apply to become a largely self-regulating “charter” school.

Teachers in favor of the charter school concept, which would allow Vaughn Street to stand exempt from state and local educational regulations, had hoped to vote today to submit their charter petition to the Los Angeles Board of Education. The proposal outlines what the school hopes to accomplish as one of up to 100 charter schools throughout California.

But the Vaughn Street faculty deferred the vote until next week so that it could address concerns and recommendations made by officials with United Teachers-Los Angeles and the California Teachers Assn. Vaughn Street officials said the union representatives advised them to ensure that the petition contained legally sound provisions regarding due process for teachers, collective bargaining rights and teacher representation on school committees.

Campus staff had originally aimed for this week to turn in their proposal to the Los Angeles school board for ratification, partly because they feared that a delay would prevent their petition from eventually being among the first 100 to reach state education authorities, who are granting charter status on a first-come, first-served basis to applications received since Jan. 1. But so far, only nine petitions have been received in Sacramento, said Greg Geeting, executive director of the state Board of Education.