SDUSD Considers Shutting Down Charter School

Promise Charter School Under Fire After Allegations Of Inappropriate Teacher-Student Relationships

Posted: 08/03/2011
Last Updated: 657 days ago

The San Diego Unified School District wants to shut down one of its charter schools after administrators told the 10News I-Team about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students.

Behind the gates of the Promise Charter School, the whirlwind of allegations has settled. The school's principal has reworked the way the school operates after complaints about inappropriate relationships at the school.

However, San Diego Unified still wants to shut the school down.

"It could really severely impact these kids' education come this fall," said Paul Minney, the school's lawyer.

Minney said the district has audited the school before and has never found anything wrong.

"Where did the wheels come off is my question. Where now is the problem?" asked Minney.

San Diego Unified said the school is guilty of "fiscal mismanagement" and that it "violated the law," including failing to report "child abuse to CPS."

The district cites a previous 10News report, saying, "Promise recently reported to Channel 10 inappropriate conduct between Promise teachers and students, without ever reporting the same to CPS."

The district is referring to a 10News investigation into Promise teacher Jose Valencia. Valencia took a leave of absence shortly after an interview with 10News.

District officials told 10News they couldn't comment before a hearing to revoke the school's charter.

Minney said the Promise Charter School is an example of what's right in charter schools.

"I've not seen a district take this level of action," he said.

The Promise Charter School continues to be one of the strongest academically performing charter schools in the state. The district does not mention academic performance as one of the problems.

The district has issued a "notice of revocation," which means that means the school is on notice that the district wants to shut the school down.

This is a rare occurrence in California and more so for a school which performs well academically.

The board will vote on July 5.

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