Reader comments
Parents raising funds to rehire 3 charter teachers

sad facts | 4:07 a.m. Dec. 18, 2008

The MVA board wants it to be a K-8 school and is willing to sacrifice the kids' education to get there.

Why do they want to be a k-8 school? The sad fact is that they feel like they need to expand to fill the seats. If they don't fill the seats they can't pay the lease on the edifice they built. The building is beautiful enough to be the city hall in a much larger town.

The sad fact is that it's not city hall, and Alpine isn't a big city. Alpine is about 7 square miles and probably has less than 15,000 people. There is very little in the way of tax base.

MVA was built on the idea that the seats would be full because the district schools in Alpine were inadequate and poorly run. On the contrary, they're among the best in the state academically and financially.

School choice exists in Utah. For the OVERWHELMING majority (80%+) district schools are the schools of choice. The sad fact is that because of decisions made by the MVA board, MVA is not a school of choice. Spoiling the sixth grade for 120 kids won't change that.

better business? | 4:11 a.m. Dec. 18, 2008

When businesses run schools you get decisions based on market formulas. No school administrator who ever was a successful classroom teacher would ever destroy a learning community mid-year. It hurts kids.

Business minds care about balance sheets. Teachers care about kids and make do with the funds that are available.

The last 100 years of public education has been good for our country. Lets not screw it up so some businessmen can have more money and power.

MVA parent | 9:39 a.m. Dec. 18, 2008

Perhaps I'd be inclined to donate to this fund had the handful of flippant and rude parents chosen not to involve the media when throwing their hissy fit and putting my children's safety at risk by holding their protest right before school when kids were trying to enter the building.

At the end of the year, teachers are still going to be let go. In the meantime, we have elementary teachers at the school teaching full classes, while middle school teachers are being paid full time salaries, yet only teaching about half the time with very small classes. Absorbing the 6th grade back into the middle school would help rectify this disparity and make it more fair for the wonderful elementary teachers.

Comments continue below

Parents Bailout | 10:24 a.m. Dec. 18, 2008

And the difference between this and mismanagement by the bank executives is? Parents should bail them out so there are no consequences of poor management. Government regulations is bad, freedom is good - banks proved that. Choose you charter school carefully, not all are bad but only a fool would think there are not some in this for their self interest. How much can the charter school management skim off a parentï¿½s investment in their childï¿½s education anyway? Is their a limit on the management companies salary? Will they make a bigger bonus by firing these teachers? I agree with helping out these teachers, but it is clear this charter school cares as much about their employees as did the CEO of Enron. Run a school like a business and you get business results, both good and bad.

my 2 cents | 12:14 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

The current MVA administration is cleaning up the mess left from the prior admin. Separate 6th grade teachers shouldn't have been hired in the first place. The 6th grade should always have been part of the middle school and the current board is making sure this happens. It's good management. It's too bad for the teachers being let go, but it's getting the school on track for the long term.

btw, regarding the "Parents Bailout" post: the board members are all volunteers and receive ZERO compensation. They also have children who attend the school.

Anonymous | 12:43 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

Sorry, but this mess is not entirely "left from the prior administration". 54.5% of the financial mess is the former administration's and BOARD's fault, 45.5% is the current administration's and BOARD's fault. The current Board has 3 or 4 members that are 100% at fault because they served last school year and are still serving currently.

I wish that the MVA parents and the State Charter School Board would hold the current board responsible for the $250,000 over budget that they are trying to solve by RIFing 3 teachers. I still don't see how 3 teachers are making and using budget money that equals $250,000. The students are still going to be taught so the budget will still be used, what other cuts are they/will they make to equal $250,000? And will the BOARD ever take responsibility for their oversight in the current year's budget? Or will they continue to blame the administrator and force her into resignation at or before the end of this year?

re:my 2 cents | 12:54 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

The current board approved the hiring of the 6th grade teachers. If they really had the best interests of the children at heart, they should have denied the hirings, especially after Mr. Glather resigned last May since he approved the hirings. Every teacher's contract should have been re-negotiated after the hiring of Mrs. Griner, even if that meant delaying the start of the school year by a week or two.

Make the current board take responsibility for their oversights in the budget, make those that served on last year's board take responsibility for over spending. Make sure that the board and school are keeping spreadsheets of every dollar in and out, and that they are looked at at least once a week so that this kind of "mess" doesn't keep happening.

I would also look into changing the by-laws so that the board is more elected by parents then appointed by the board or administration. Openings in an elected seat should be filled by election, not, as is done currently, by appointment.

re: my 2 cents | 3:43 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

I'm an outsider, but I thought the chair of the new board was the spouse of the former chair. That sounds like chairs shuffling to me, not like "cleaning up after."

re:re:my 2 cents | 4:07 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

The original chair of the board was Rebecca Whitchurch, she was also the lead Founder. The current chair is Mac Simms, who was also an original board member. Tom Whitchurch, Rebecca's husband was appointed to the board as a trustee to fill the opening left by Rebecca.

re:re:re | 6:12 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

wow

So is it some kind of insider's club? Are they investors in the development? How does all this equal public service?

Anonymous | 9:41 p.m. Dec. 18, 2008

seriously,

what are parents thinking they are going to get when they send their kids to a charter school?

Anonymous | 5:59 a.m. Dec. 19, 2008

Parents are thinking for what is best for the child isn't what they are getting in ASD. The main issue is Investigations Math and having children move through without learning the basics. They at least get the basics in a Charter school.

insiders club | 7:00 a.m. Dec. 19, 2008

The former board chair was replaced by her husband, by appointment through the other board members. She now works in the office. Another board member quit and now works in the office too. These positions were not advertised and there was no application process. Then another board member recently quit and now his wife has been moved in to run the front office. The new curriculum director had her husband hired as lead custodian and her daughter-in-law moved in to work at the front office. When the whole group is all related, it helps to keep the secrecy and control.

re:anonymous | 8:06 a.m. Dec. 19, 2008

Investigations Math is not the main math program in ASD and has not been for 2 years. Investigations is now just a red herring argument for the charter school parents.

Anonymous | 8:47 a.m. Dec. 19, 2008

My guess is that we will see lawsuits and criminal charges filed in the near future.

Private or charter? | 9:54 a.m. Dec. 19, 2008

In all other states, this is called a "private school." Parents that are interested in paying for a superior education pay tuition. Those that can afford to pay receive the benefits associated iwth private schools (small class sizes, individual attention), etc. Only in Utah can the lines become so blurred. If the charter school can't fill the classrooms, changes have to be made. For all of you parents that want the best of both worlds, it's time to look at real private schools and stop trying to turn government funded entities into them.

Anonymous | 10:16 a.m. Dec. 19, 2008

Amen to Private or Charter...

The people with their noses in the air want to appear better than others but not pay for it.

Well now they are paying for it and so are their kids.

Charter schools are the biggest joke ever played on the Utah public

I'd Sue Them | 3:01 p.m. Dec. 19, 2008

MVA parents..they rejected your fundraising, turned their backs on your concerns, refused to include you in the decision...

File suit in district court and have them removed due to breach of trust. Now you have over $40K in dontations..and get your school back.

And this is good government?

insiders club | 3:06 p.m. Dec. 19, 2008

how about a charter school that gave the custodial contract to the chair, wanted to terminate the employees' retirement plan and give it to the treasurer's financial franchise, the board secretary's wife had a private school in the charter school,..then hired the chair's wife's best friend to be a director, a person whose last time in the classroom was in high school..no college degree to boot.

Anonymous | 9:53 p.m. Dec. 27, 2008

The original chair of the board, Mrs. Whitchurch, has no college degree in education, business, or anything else for that matter. She does not like public schools and thought she could do a much better job. This school seeems like it is really falling apart. It is not in the best interest of the children to let three teachers go in the middle of the school year and change the class schedules of the students. It will be interesting to see how much longer this sorry excuse of a school stays open. MVA parents, wake up!

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