An East San Jose charter school slated for closure has been temporarily saved by a court’s ruling.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Peterson issued a tentative decision directing the East Side Union High School District to keep the schools of Escuela Popular open, after the board of trustees on April 2 revoked its charter due to its teachers not being fully credentialed. The school, which provides bilingual education as well as resources and services to immigrants, was set to close June 30.
Peterson determined the district relied on erroneous legal standards in reaching its decision, thereby denying Escuela Popular a fair hearing and reasonable opportunity to respond, a spokesperson for Escuela Popular said. The ruling is tentative and still needs to be finalized. In the meantime, the district’s revocation is stayed and the schools remain open under an existing court order.
“We have common goals with the district in serving the East San Jose community and immigrant students. We believe in the transformational power of education,” Pablo Reguerin, chair of the Escuela Popular board of directors, told San José Spotlight. “We were confident in our position, in our data and our actions. It felt like an agenda to close Escuela Popular. It was an abuse of discretion.”
The court directed Escuela Popular’s legal counsel to prepare a proposed agreement by July 17. The school district has until July 24 to file objections.
In a news release, the district said it intends to submit objections by July 24 and that another hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26.
Patricia Reguerin, executive director of Escuela Popular and sister to Pablo Reguerin, said the threat of closure brought her and the school community many sleepless nights. She said it would be hard to replace the small bilingual, culturally sensitive experience the school provides.
“The court ruled this way because we were aware that the district was not following the law in the way that it was written and intended to be used for revocation,” she told San José Spotlight. “We’re given the opportunity to remedy or refute the notice of violation, which is the first step in revocation. The law says that we are supposed to refute to the district’s satisfaction or remedy. We remedied and that should have taken us off the revocation path.”
Instructional leader Yolanda Ortiz said she values being at a school dedicated to serving a community which has been historically underserved.
“Students felt anxiety at the possibly of the school closing,” she told San José Spotlight. “(They) would not receive that same feeling or culturally responsive education in other schools. Students will continue receiving the education that they deserve.”
With the court case leaning in the charter school’s favor, Patricia Reguerin wants to move forward in collaborating with the district.
“Even though we (took) some punches, that still didn’t waver our desire to continue working together with the district,” she said. “My hope is that through this ruling, we’re able to get back to the table. Our goal is to seek partnership with East Side, so that we don’t have this standing in the way of serving the community that we want to serve and love.”
Contact Lorraine Gabbert at [email protected].
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