By Anna Pier
In a four to one vote, on January 8 the Board of Trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District approved the petition of the MacArthur Park Charter School Board (MPCS) to open a TK–5 (Transitional Kindergarten through Fifth Grade) school in August 2026. The petitioners expect 218 students to open the school year. They have requested use of the Prestwood School site, which the Board had voted to close in June of this year. Location of the new charter school remains, however, undecided. Approval of the petition followed over three hours dedicated to that question, beginning with public comment which was limited by the Board to 90 seconds.
The trustees’ decision steamrolled the clear analysis in the District office staff report which advised against approving the MPCS petition. That report identified four of the eight standards of the California Education Code which the charter petitioners did not satisfy. Acting Superintendent Rena Seifts pointed out, as she presented a summary of the written report, that the staff which had prepared it “reflected 179 years of service in public education.” At the opening of the meeting, Valley of the Moon Teachers’ Association co-presidents Laura Hoban and Richelle Ryan stated the union’s opposition to the new charter proposal, explaining that while they value the strong advocates for public education who are bringing the petition, the teachers question whether the proposal aligns with long term stability goals for the District.
Trustee Catarina Landry opened the discussion in support of the MPCS petition, saying that her guiding light is “legal,” and the fact that the petitioners could take the denied petition to the County for approval, or even then to the State, where appeals are approved 7 out of 10 times. Landry said she agreed with the District staff’s findings but, “by not approving the petition, we’re losing control of our decisions.” Landry didn’t think there were legal grounds to deny the petition. She also asserted several times, “These are our students, these are taxpayers,” concluding that she didn’t want the decision to divide the community.
After a break at 10:00, Trustee Jason Lehman reminded the public that this moment was the first opportunity that he and fellow trustees had to talk among each other. Lehman was enthusiastic about charter schools, regretting that the Board had failed to celebrate the two long term existing charters, Sonoma Charter School and Woodland Star Charter School. He described the two schools as part of the District’s “best practices.”
The sole trustee opposing the petition was Gerado Guzman. Trying to focus his fellows’ attention on essential missing elements in the petition, such as a radically inadequate budget allocation for Special Education,
Guzman pointed out that “the experts, the educators, have said the petition is not ready to approve.” He added that the petition as written, even including the rebuttal to the staff report, “is not ready to succeed.”
Guzman voiced several times his concern that MPCS, despite outreach intent, will have a student body which does not reflect the District student population. He juxtaposed the heat maps (showing preponderance of students) of MPCS’ “meaningfully interested” families – clustered around the Prestwood site– with the majority of Valley students, clustered in the Springs. Trustee Ching echoed Guzman’s concern, acknowledging that she has always worried about lack of ethnic and socio-economic balance in the schools. Later Landry rebutted that she didn’t want to deny the “kiddos on the heat map clustered around Prestwood.”
Fielding some questions resulting from Guzman’s insistence on examining flaws in the petition, Amber Williams, Coordinator of Educational Services, affirmed that she had taken very seriously the task of reporting on the charter school petition. She pointed out that if the Board would deny the charter, the petitioners would have an opportunity to fix the flaws in their petition. She concluded, “With my experience as an educator, including as a principal, and with my morals, I cannot approve it.”
Acting Superintendent Seifts attempted to add to Williams’ comments by explaining that the staff’s concerns were that many areas were not thought out, but her remarks were interrupted by President Bell. Trustee Guzman persisted with his concern about the drastic underbudgeting for special ed, which Director of Special Ed Troy Knox strongly affirmed.
President Bell stated that it is easy to find a reason to deny the petition, but he believes in choice, and “these are taxpayers.” To Trustee Guzman, Bell opined that if MPCS is very successful, the disadvantaged socio-economically that Guzman was worried about “will want to come to it.”
Ensuing discussion focused on facilities, and mention of the possibility of co-locating Woodland Star Charter School, currently at the old Dunbar School site in Glen Ellen since 2023, and the new MacArthur Park Charter School, at the Prestwood site. By February 1 the District will make a facility offer to the new charter school.
Yes, it’s a profit deal. “Neighborhood schools are a powerful selling point, significantly boosting home values, increasing demand, and speeding up sales by attracting families willing to pay a premium for homes near schools commanding higher prices and better long-term value retention. Realtors highlight school proximity (especially walking distance) as key features,”
https://mtg-specialists.com/house-hunting-why-school-districts-should-be-on-your-radar/
A reminder that the current president of the board, Mr. Bell, is not an elected official. He was appointed to replace John Kelly and therefore does not carry a direct electoral mandate. Yet he is presiding over some of the most consequential decisions in the history of the SVUSD board: the closure of public schools and the transfer of taxpayer-owned land and facilities to a charter operator whose proposal, by any reasonable standard, fails to meet basic requirements.
Taken together, these actions suggest this board’s agenda was never centered on strengthening public education, but on facilitating the transfer of public assets and schools into private hands. Shameful.
At this point there is really no reason to try and help this school district resolve it’s financial problems. The 4 that voted for this should be blamed if the the district remains dysfunctional, with financial issues, and at some point gets taken over by the state. It is stated above that a school near by raises home values. The home values on the east side of Sonoma are already so high, that the only people able buy there are the very wealthy. Many of them will be older, with no children of school age. The few wealthy with school age who buy on the east side, may or may not send them to this charter school. The majority of children at this charter school will be from other areas of the valley with lower home prices and more children already, thus taking funding from the school district. The financial analysis done by staff was ignored. Only one trustee had the capacity to understand reality. And the fact that Bell interrupts the acting superintendent, does not bode well for the person they select to be the next superintendent. Why would anyone want to work with this board? No matter how much you pay someone, if they are not listened to or respected as superintendent they will leave. This board does not have the background and training to micro manage as they have been doing for years and keep a competent person as superintendent. Plus, their useless marathon meetings,where they listen to no one but themselves will continue.