Oakland School Board Votes Not to Renew Charter for EC Reems Academy of Technology and Arts

The Oakland school board has voted 4-2 not to renew the charter of one of the city's oldest charter schools, citing declining enrollment, poor academic performance and fiscal insolvency.

Officials at EC Reems Academy of Technology and Arts, which is located at 8425 MacArthur Blvd. in East Oakland and has been operating since 1999, say they will appeal the decision made by the Oakland school board at its meeting Wednesday night.
 
The appeal will be made to the Alameda County Board of Education. Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint said enrollment at EC Reems, which has students in kindergarten through eighth grade, has declined significantly, from 348 students in 2009 to only 239 students in the current school year.
 
Flint also said the school is plagued by financial problems and its students' academic performance is worse than three of the four public elementary schools that are located in the same part of East Oakland.
 
Flint said EC Reems officials were supposed to file their request for a new five-year charter in November, when other charter schools filed their requests, but they didn't submit their papers until late March.
 
He said, "That was indicative of their lack of organization and their refusal to take the process seriously." Flint said EC Reems was in danger of not having enough money to pay its employees earlier this year so it took out a high-interest loan by pledging future enrollment payments from the state as collateral. "That calls into serious question their ability to continue," Flint said.
 
EC Reems officials said in their application to renew their charter that the school "is academically sound, is an effective and viable organization, has been faithful to the terms of its charter and has been reasonably comprehensive in its petition" for renewal.
 
School officials said, "While there have been some stressors in recent years, the institution has over 13 years of successful administration to see it through these challenges."

—By Bay City News