An agreement has been reached between Sequoia Union High School District and Summit Preparatory High School over the terms of the two-year charter granted unanimously to the three-year-old charter school by the Sequoia district’s Board of Trustees on May 31.
In a memorandum of understanding that accompanied the charter and is set for ratification by the Sequoia and Summit boards this week, the Sequoia district prohibits admission preferences for children from so-called founding families — parents who contributed at least 30 hours of volunteer work to the school so as to guarantee admission for their children.
About 70 percent of these families live in Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley and Woodside, and more than 100 seats had been set aside for students from these communities in Summit’s 2007-08 and 2008-09 freshman classes, said Sequoia Superintendent Pat Gemma.
Ending the program should end questions on the Sequoia board as to whether Summit is elitist, Mr. Gemma said.
Summit’s published 2005 state academic performance rating — 864 on a scale of 200 to 1,000 — exceeded ratings of the high schools in the Sequoia district, including Menlo-Atherton at 728 and Woodside at 720.
State statistics show 41 percent of Summit students tested were of ethnicities other than white and 20 percent were from families that qualify for the federal free or reduced-cost lunch program. In the Sequoia district, comparable figures were 56 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
Seeking poor performers
In addressing a second major concern of the Sequoia board, the agreement spells out how Summit is to reach out to eighth-graders whose test scores are in the lower three of five academic performance categories as defined by the state.Summit must establish admission target ranges, such as 2 percent to 7 percent of freshmen from the far-below-basic category, and 7 percent to 13 percent from the below-basic category.
If the make-up of the 2007-08 freshman class falls short of the targets, Summit must takes steps to recruit low-scoring students, including sending a mailing to their homes and offering opportunities to audit Summit classes.
If the targets are unmet for the 2008-09 school year, further steps would be necessary, such as reaching out to schools with a concentration of poorly performing students and holding recruiting events in community meeting places.
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