Charter School Seeks Court Order to Stay Open

By Bay City News Service

An Oakland charter school that has high-achieving students but allegedly engaged in financial improprieties has gone to court to try to keep its doors open.

The Oakland school board voted by a narrow 4-3 margin on March 20 to revoke the charter for the American Indian Model Schools, alleging that the school hasn't done enough to rectify financial irregularities that were found in a state audit last year.

The school board's ruling means that American Indian Model Schools, which has 1,200 students at three campuses in Oakland, must close.

American Indian Model Schools filed an appeal of the school board's decision to the Alameda County Board of Education in late April, but its lawyer, Gregory Moser, said today (Wednesday) that the charter group is seeking a temporary restraining order so it can begin its summer classes on schedule on June 20 and plan to begin its regular school year in the fall.

Moser said time is of the essence because the county board has up to 90 days to make a ruling or decide not to do anything. The charter school could then appeal to the state board of education but that would be another lengthy process, he said.     

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo heard arguments on American Indian Model Schools' bid for a restraining order at a hearing on Tuesday and is expected to issue a ruling at a second hearing Thursday afternoon.

Moyer said a temporary restraining order would assure students, parents and teachers that American Indian Model Schools will remain open until Grillo hears the merits of a lawsuit that the charter school filed against the Oakland Unified School District on May 23.

American Indian Model Schools was founded in 1996 as a charter middle school and later added an elementary school and a high school.

U.S. News and World Report has ranked it as one of the top schools in California and the nation, but Oakland school district spokesman Troy Flint said a state audit last year found financial improprieties by the school's founders and a separate school district audit found similar improprieties.

Flint said the school board ordered American Indian Model Schools to bring in new management and improve its financial practices but the school failed to made adequate changes.

Flint said, "Our preferred conclusion was to keep the schools open."

But he said the district had "no choice" except to close the schools because it believes American Indian Schools engaged in "clear violations of the law" and misused funds.

"We had a legal obligation to close them," Flint said.

Moser said the charter school's suit alleges that the school district failed to comply with a new federal regulation that student achievement must be the most important factor in considering whether to revoke a school's charter.

Moser said the alleged errors and improprieties at American Indian Model Schools ended in 2011 and aren't relevant to its students' continued high achievement levels.

But Flint said the school district followed California's laws for charter school revocations "to the letter" and believes American Indian Model Schools should wait for the appeals process to be completed before filing suit to try to stay open.

Flint said the fact that a lengthy appeal process could result in the charter school being closed this summer and fall is due to what he described as the "intransigence" and "procrastination" of its leadership.

He said the charter revocation could have been avoided a long time ago if the school's leaders had simply changed its financial practices to make sure that public funds were being spent properly.

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