Being in such close proximity to Silicon Valley and with a desire for their children to be prepared for the quickly evolving future,
parents are starting to look for new innovative ways for their children to learn. Integrative Leadership Academy (ILA), a local non-profit,
intends to open a public charter middle school to meet the growing need of Valley families for a new small school option.
At the June 16 public hearing, parents and community members spoke to the SLVUSD Board of Education in support of the ILA middle school program. ILA is
project-based and focused on the development of the whole-child, including music, art, athletics and life skills courses for all students.
“As a parent and an educator, I’m very impressed with ILA.innovation and opportunity is what we’re looking for, and I know my child would benefit immensely
from this new charter middle school,” said Dave Chisler, a Boulder Creek parent and public school teacher.
Led by ILA Executive Director Dr. Nicky Ramos-Beban, a long-time Valley resident and public school educator, a group of parents and community members
submitted two petitions to SLVUSD. The first petition was denied by the SLVUSD Board in March, despite the packed house at the public hearing and the dozens of
letters sent to the Board on the school’s behalf. Dr. Ramos-Beban submitteda revised petition in May that addressed the District’s findings, most notably the lack of a
proper facility for the school. To address this issue, Ramos-Bebanbuilt a “win-win” partnership with Camp Harmon in Boulder Creek, a 40-acre property with
classrooms under the redwoods, a pool, an organic garden and animal farm, and miles of hiking trails. “We’re offering Camp Harmonas a great facility for ILA’s
new charter school. The school’s program is in line with the desires of the Camp Harmon founders, and I can’t imagine a better use of our campgrounds than to host
the school,” said Scott Webb, Executive Director of Camp Harmon. ILA will operate when Camp Harmon is not in session, so no existing programs will be displaced,
and the lease of the facility and services to the school will generate $200,000 for Camp Harmon each year.
ILA began as a vision of parents and community members seeking to add another small school option to the Valley and entice families back into the public school
system. Many parents involved in this project are on waiting lists for the SLVUSD charter programs and in the meantime, are homeschooling
their children or sending them to private schools. One parent, Dina, whose children currently attend a charter school outside of SLVUSD, said that if there is no local
small charter school available, “We will have no choice other than to forgo the public school system and participate in a homeschool program.” Other parents live in
Scotts Valley and will be transferring their children into SLVUSD to attend ILA when the school is authorized.
Charter schools, especially in states with less strict accountability,have become increasingly under fire for practices like hiring uncredentialed teachers, sending
hard-to-serve students back to District schools and making a profit off public schooling.According to Ramos-Beban, who has been an instructor in the teacher
education departments at San Jose State University and Stanford University since 1999, “These charter practices should be illegal. We hire only credentialed
teachers, we serve all students regardless of their needs, and we are non-profit. To do any less would be a misuseof public trust and public tax dollars.” As a long-time
teachers’ union member herself, Ramos-Beban is also in favor of charters unionizing if the teachers desire: “The bottom line is that parents want small, personalized
and responsive schools for their children, and the California charter allow parents to bring these schools into existence.”
If approved by the SLVUSD Board at the decision hearing on July 26th at 5:00 PM, ILA will open in the fall at Camp Harmon in Boulder Creek. If the school is
not authorized on July 26th, ILA will appeal to the County of Santa Cruz to open in fall 2019.
ILA is now accepting pre-registrations for the upcoming school year (2018-2019) and for next school year (2019-2020). To learn more about Integrative Leadership
Academy or to pre-register, please visit www.ilapublicschools.org.