What Griffey was, what Griffey did and, most importantly, what Griffey meant to a generation of baseball fans will never, can never and should never be replicated. Follow her at /noguchionk12.It was true poetry, wonderfully appropriate, that the single greatest Home Run Derby hitter of all time had a front-row seat to watch the national coronation of the sport's newest supersonic superstar: Julio Rodríguez. Rocketship also operates schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in Nashville, Tennessee.Ĭontact Sharon Noguchi at 40. As of December, the four plaintiff school districts had spent $150,000 in legal costs. Just preparing its 17,000-page record of proceedings for the suit cost $35,000, according to its general counsel, Maribel Medina. For Santa Clara County Office of Education, that could amount to as much as $250,000. Under terms of the settlement, each party will pay its own legal fees. Of the remaining approved but unbuilt Rocketship charters, three will be in San Jose Unified, and one each in the Santa Clara Unified, Campbell Elementary and Oak Grove school districts. Nor would it petition for a more narrowly focused charter - to serve just district students and not those from the entire county - in any of those districts for two years. If education officials approve the lawsuit settlement, Rocketship would agree not to seek countywide charters in the four plaintiff school districts - serving east and southeast San Jose - for five years. More recently, its test scores lagged, its expansion to San Jose’s Tamien neighborhood was stymied by a lawsuit, and a failed experiment in growing class sizes to 100 students shook up the organization. It offers a longer school day and longer school year, favors strict discipline, and relies on fresh college graduates and other young teachers in the classroom.Īt every public hearing on expansion, Rocketship bused in scores of purple-shirted students and parents, who pleaded for approval of schools.Īll along the way, Rocketship faced opposition from public school officials and residents defending neighborhood schools. Rocketship grabbed the attention of education reformers with the then-novel “blended learning” strategy of harnessing computers to teach children part of the day, and promoted ideas to “disrupt education,” patterned on tech-driven innovation. As it expanded, it offered an alternative to families living near the lowest-performing schools in the county. It operates independently of school districts and charges no tuition.
Rocketship opened its first school in a San Jose church in 2007, targeting poor and Latino students. However, in a statement, three superintendents wrote, “This settlement respects the interests of all parties involved and reflects our common desire to provide the best possible education opportunities for our community’s children.” Representatives of the four districts also refused to comment, pending approval of the settlement by all their school boards. Darcie Green, president of the county board of education, said in a written statement that developing a consensus among school districts and the county board on charter school planning would be beneficial. 1 a “charter school summit” with all the county’s 31 school districts to discuss charter school planning. The settlement agreement requires the county office of education to convene by Aug. In the future, “We hope to grow through collaborative relationships with districts,” Kuizenga wrote. The agreement signals a softening of the confrontational politics surrounding the charter operator, which had found support from the county school board for its urgency on rapid growth to meet low-income families’ demand for better education. He claimed the “collaborative talks” with districts will not affect overall expansion plans of Rocketship, which expects to serve 2,000 more children in the Bay Area in three years. In an email, David Kuizenga, Rocketship vice president for the Bay Area, downplayed the apparent retreat. The proposed settlement, which doesn’t find fault, resulted from months of mediation involving school board members, superintendents and Rocketship. Instead, district officials argued, Rocketship should have sought approval from individual school districts.Īt the time, local officials said the county school board’s continuing approval of charter schools was wreaking havoc with their ability to plan education programs and manage facilities.
The lawsuit contended that the board overstepped its bounds in approving Rocketship charters intended to serve children countywide. In February last year, the Alum Rock, Mount Pleasant, Franklin-McKinley and Evergreen school districts filed suit against the charter school operator and the county board of education over its mass approval of Rocketship charters.
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