At Unlicensed Arts Academy, the School Year Must Go On

Though they have no license to open, officials at the Orange County Elementary Arts Academy are plowing ahead with plans to hold classes in September. Students are registering, a principal has been hired and a faculty is waiting in the wings.

After a rejection last month by the Santa Ana Unified School District, school organizers and parents have pinned their hopes on receiving a new charter license from the county before the first day of school.

“I hope [the district and county] can see that everybody’s commitment and heart is here,” said Christine McKay of Tustin, who registered daughter Emma, 8, on Saturday. “And if it doesn’t open this year, it’s going to open.”

McKay and about 100 other parents trickled into the school’s cafeteria Saturday morning to fill out forms, get their children’s reading skills assessed and envision teaching steeped in the performing arts this fall.

But the reality this weekend was a disclaimer in English and Spanish at the registration desk by Jane Ross Laguna, the school board chairwoman:

“I have been informed and understand that if [the] charter is not approved on time, the school cannot open this year and therefore my child will have to attend a different school.”

Parents were undeterred, but they had backup plans.

“If this doesn’t work out, we’ll stay at El Sol,” a nearby charter school, said Dana Payne, who registered daughter Cheyenne, 9, and son Winston, 7. “We’re not disappointed with El Sol, we just think this is a better opportunity.”

Earlier this year a group of parents announced their intention to resurrect plans to open a charter elementary school in Santa Ana geared toward the arts.

One goal is to attract low-income Santa Ana students and feed them into the Orange County High School of the Arts. That charter school, opened in 1987, has not attained its goal of admitting 30% of its students from Santa Ana’s Latino community.

The elementary school has preregistered 550 students, officials said. Three-quarters are from Santa Ana; the rest are from 23 other Orange County cities.

District trustees approved the charter in 2002, but the project stalled for lack of funds. Presented with the revived proposal again last month, trustees voted unanimously to revoke the school’s charter, expressing concerns about the academy’s finances and leadership.

Monique Parmentier, who has been tapped as principal, said the staff, curriculum, supplies and building could be ready in September.

“Some things are worth taking a risk for,” she said.

Charter schools, which seek to use innovative teaching methods, are financed by the state and local districts. Though they are largely independent, the schools must be approved by local school districts, which are financially liable for them.

Ross Laguna said the school will now petition the county Department of Education for a charter to open by Sept. 7.

Wendy Benkert, county assistant superintendent, declined to comment on specifics, but said county officials told academy leaders that it was unlikely that a new charter would be approved by September.

Benkert said state law allows county trustees to take as long as three months to decide on a charter petition.

Ross Laguna said classes must start, at the latest, by the end of September or the school would lose state funding.

She said the uncertainty has been difficult. Not wanting to make large purchases of furniture, computers and textbooks until they have a license, school officials have held off dipping into a $200,000 line of credit for start-up costs offered by real estate developer Michael Harrah, who owns the building that will house the school.

Twenty teachers have gone through two rounds of interviews, but Ross Laguna has postponed offering contracts.

Donie Porreca of Garden Grove, who has been home-schooling son Keaton, 9, also hopes the school opens in September. Like many others, she has a Plan B -- back to home-schooling.

“I don’t think I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t open this year,” she said. “At least they have things rolling. So if it takes another year, I’m OK with that.”