Drug rehab program seeks charter school sponsor

Oakland Tribune, Jun 21, 2006 by T.S. Mills-Faraudo, STAFF WRITER

A teen drug-treatment program wanting to open a charter school through the San Mateo County Office of Education may have to look elsewhere for a sponsoring agency.

Daytop, a nonprofit residential rehabilitation program in Redwood City, submitted a charter petition to the Office of Education in May asking to establish a school for about 25 high school students recovering from substance abuse.

But County Counsel John Beiers sent a letter to Daytop Executive Director Orville Roache informing him that the Office of Education may not have jurisdiction to approve the charter. Instead, Beiers recommended they attempt to get their school sponsored by the Sequoia Union High School District.

A charter petition can be directly submitted only to a county office of education if backers want to open a countywide school, or if they plan to serve students the county would serve otherwise, Beiers said.

Roache said he approached the Office of Education with the petition because the population the county serves is similar to Daytop's. With its court and community schools, the Office of Education provides classes for troubled youth that school districts cannot serve.

"We didn't go to Sequoia first, because we thought we were serving students the county would otherwise serve. They serve kids that have been expelled, and we serve troubled youth," he said.

Based on the program's current population, Daytop is anticipating that 80 percent of its students will be wards of the court, 12 percent county residents referred by drug and alcohol services, and 8 percent placed there by a hospital or teens who voluntarily admit themselves into the program.

But Beiers said the only students the county is obligated to serve are those in the court schools. The county provides community schools, which are primarily for expelled students, as strictly a favor to school districts.

Typically, he said, charter petitions go to the local school districts first, and if they are rejected there, they then come to the county for an appeal process.

Daytop, which opened in the county in 1988, has a private school for teens in its program. Daytop wants to open a charter school so it can receive state funding, Roache said.

The proposed charter would be a ninth-through-12th-grade program offering a standard high school education plus electives primarily focusing on the arts, Roache said. The school would also provide therapeutic workshops, family counseling and other support services.

Some trustees on the County Board of Education agree with Beiers' legal opinion.

"I don't think we're in the business of establishing charter schools that can be better served by a local school district," Trustee Susan Alvaro said.

The board is expected to discuss Daytop's petition at its 7 p.m. meeting today in the board room at 101 Twin Dolphin Dr.

Staff writer T.S. Mills-Faraudo covers education. She can be reached at (650) 348-4338 or tmills@angnewspapers.com.