Sonoma Charter Isn't Giving The Trustees A Choice.

Ethnicity of Students, Hispanic or Latino
Sonoma Valley Public Schools
"Education Statistics of California," 

Google Public Data Explorer

available at http://tinyurl.com/ax4z937

Gary DeSmet and Helen Marsh shouldered a heavy load on Tuesday at the Sonoma Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting.  It was well described by Bill Hoban in this article.

I know that the School Board Trustees, in their individual capacities, want to provide every bit of support they can for the families and students at Sonoma Charter. But the Charter School has a racial segregation problem that is obvious, serious, and that has not been addressed after multiple warnings.

The plain fact is that there is simply no way that Sonoma Charter is a neighborhood school with this demographic profile.  At all.  Further, the failure to correct the problem makes Sonoma Charter look more like a relic of the past than a guide to the future of education, an issue that has come up on this blog before.

It is a real failing of the Charter School administration, that they have made it so extraordinarily difficult for any Trustee, at this point, to vote to renew the charter.

I am afraid for the Charter School that they have reached the point where there are now going to be consequences, and that this is going to cause real hardship for many families and students.  But I think the Board of Trustees, even though I am sure they want to support the School, have simply been put in an untenable position, and that they cannot provide more public money that will be used to allow this situation to continue.