Parents question charter school in Alpine

About 180 parents gathered at Alpine's Mountainville Academy Monday night looking for answers after the board of trustees last week unceremoniously laid off the entire sixth-grade staff and announced plans, effective immediately, to usher the 11- and 12-year-old students into middle school.

Considering some of the parents in attendance were so angry they mobbed the school at 7:45 Monday morning demanding to speak with administrators, the meeting was surprisingly calm. More than anything, the parents made comments conveying feelings of betrayal and sadness at the school's lack of public communication before making the drastic organizational change.

"My daughter didn't attend school today — not because she was sick, or because we were angry with the school," said Tyra Cox, a mother of a Mountainville Academy sixth-grader. "She felt emotionally devastated, and she needed time to recover."

Even Mac Sims, chair of the charter school that serves grades kindergarten through eighth, choked up a little as he answered questions.

He said the decision was primarily prompted by budget concerns. Last year the school overspent by more than $300,000.

Additionally, Sims said, the middle school is overstaffed. In order to integrate elective classes into student schedules, the school hired extra middle-school teachers. Enrollment was low, however, and teachers are now being paid full salary to teach classes as small as six students.

Aside from a few students who stood to give tribute to the three teachers who were laid off, most of the comments voiced during the meeting centered on the board's failure to involve the public in the decision-making process.

"This board has systematically circumvented the stipulations of Utah's open meetings laws," said Mike Farley, whose nephew attends Mountainville Academy. "You've known about the budget deficit since October, but there's been no discussion in your board meetings about what you are going to do about it."

Sims admitted the board intentionally meets in three-member committees to avoid public-notice requirements, he said. Any meeting involving four or more members would require public notice.

"None of this information forthcoming was ever known to the public, and that was by design," Sims said. "There was a reason for that."

Because the reorganization of the sixth grade included the firing of three teachers, the board of trustees said it wasn't required to discuss the decision with parents. State charter school officials said it is up to the individual schools to determine whether school directors have power to hire and fire employees.