Charter school in Alpine drops 6th grade

ALPINE — Parents and three teachers aren't appreciating a Christmastime surprise from Mountainville Academy charter school in Alpine.

Mountainville school leaders on Friday dismissed three sixth-grade teachers and announced the sixth grade would merge into the middle school. These plans were done in secret, parents said.

"The board has some explaining to do. We want answers," said parent Maj-Britt Curtis of Alpine.

Parents are planning a variety of protests for Monday. Their actions could include showing up at the school, keeping their children home from school, and swamping the school director and board with phone calls and e-mails.

Mountainville, a kindergarten through eighth-grade academic-based charter school in Alpine, began in August 2006.

Friday, Mountainville sixth-grade teachers Tricia Remington, Denise Mott, and Danielle Beck were told to pack their belongings and were escorted from the building, parents said.

One teacher, when contacted by the Deseret News Friday night, declined to comment. The other two teachers could not be reached for comment.

Mountainville charter school board member Linda Seeley said Saturday the decision wasn't based on teacher quality. "None of these teachers did anything wrong. It will strengthen our school academically and economically," Seeley said.

Seeley said neither the teacher dismissal nor the grade restructuring issue was discussed during a public meeting, but were topics during a meeting between the school director and the board's executive team. No votes were taken by the full board on either issue.

According to the Utah Open Meeting Law, a personnel issue is one of several reasons a governmental body can hold a closed meeting, although any votes have to be taken publicly. But administrative decisions, such as restructuring a school's grade system, is not considered a legal reason to close a meeting.

Seeley said an open, public meeting was not required because a quorum was never present to vote on the issues.

Board Chairman Mac Sims said Saturday that the decision regarding the three teachers and grade restructuring was an "administrative decision with the support of the board." He added that board members simply expressed their feelings on the issue during a closed meeting but took no vote.