Charter request gets a 2nd look

Riverside Technology isn't going down without a fight. In a 7-4 vote, the Utah State Board of Education moved to reconsider the school's charter application this past week.

The board in December denied the application for Riverside, focused technology and science for inner-city Ogden children, because it felt it was too similar to the Northern Utah Academy of Math, Engineering and Science charter.

Supporters of the Riverside Technology High School felt the action was a slap in the face and took the case to state legislators, charging that the state unfairly denied their application.

"We thought that all you had to do is present your case and if you have a good charter you're approved," said Dan Early, a member of Riverside's board of directors. "We didn't realize how much of a political game you had to play, too."

On Wednesday, State Superintendent Steven Laing came under fire from the Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee, a group that looks at state agency rules to see if they are meeting legislative intent.

"It has been admitted that this application is the best or one of the best ever submitted and I would suggest that to deny it is arbitrary," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper.

Laing described some committee members as being "quite active in their criticism" of the Riverside application's denial.

Riverside sponsors said that along with the charter application the school was asked to do an impact study, give documentation to support the history and conception of the initiative and forced into merger negotiations with the NUAMES.

Riverside sponsors had made efforts to partner with the NUAMES earlier in the year but said that holding the two schools up to each other was comparing apples and oranges.

Riverside's fundamental premise was based on 500 students attending school in a proposed downtown facility, while NUAMES would have a network of centers around Weber, Ogden and Davis districts where students will be bused during the day. Also, New Century is extension of the existing schools; Riverside, a stand-alone charter immersion school.

Though some legislators on the review committee felt the state board was out of line in denying the charter, state board vice-chairwoman Janet Cannon said that looking at the full picture should be part of the job.

She said the board puts much more into the approval process than making sure boxes on the application are checked correctly. She said the review committee's remarks "diminish us in our rules and responsibilities."

The reconsideration of the school's charter will be on the board's agenda for the first meeting in February along with further discussion on the issue.

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E-MAIL: terickson@desnews.com