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As required by law, the Sequoia Union High School District governing board has made an offer of facilities to the petitioners for Everest Charter High School: four portable classrooms on what is currently an empty lot at 763 Green St. in East Palo Alto.
If the state Board of Education approves the petition in March, Everest would open in September for about 100 freshmen. With scant comment, the Sequoia board voted unanimously on Jan. 28 to approve the proposal prepared by Assistant Superintendent Jim Lianides.
The board acted ahead of a Feb. 1 state deadline requiring the district to offer facilities to a charter school that could open in September, even though the board itself rejected Everest’s petition in September 2008.
The campus would double as a branch of the district’s adult school in the evenings, Mr. Lianides said, adding that the site would be “a starter campus” for Everest to see whether the school is successfully launched.
“I think it meets the needs of our broader community,” Trustee Gordon Lewin said. “It will create a different mix of students enrolled than if it were somewhere else.” Everest would be modeled on Summit Preparatory Charter High School, the six-year-old charter in Redwood City that has many more applicants than available seats each year, a four-year-college acceptance rate of more than 95 percent, per-student spending lower than the district’s, and a student body that is 10 percent less Hispanic and 14 percent more white than the district’s student population, according to state data.
The district owns the land and the six or seven portables to be installed there, Mr. Lianides told The Almanac.
Everest spokeswoman Diane Tavenner had no comment at the meeting, but in an earlier interview, she said she was troubled by the formula used to calculate the school’s annual payment of $20,400 to the district to maintain the buildings.
The Sequoia district board turned Everest down on a 4-1 vote on Sept. 17. Board members’ reasons included a lack of community support and Everest’s potential to attract white students who might otherwise attend undersubscribed charters in East Palo Alto.
The San Mateo County board rejected the petition on a 5-2 vote on Dec. 8.
