When the Piru Charter School train left the station, few passengers were on board. What was described as a “collaborative” effort now appears to represent the work of only 3 individuals with the consent of an additional few people. There was no effort to get “buy in” from more than a small handful of community members, classified staff members, nor teachers not in “the know”.

The Piru Charter School petition was written in secret. Over a year ago Piru Elementary School staff met to explore reconfiguration at Piru School to parallel the district’s conversations on reconfiguration. The conversations at Piru were to include ways to improve instruction within the current school structure, investigate the concept of a magnet school, and look at charter schools. The conversations, led by then principal Richard Durborow and long time charter advocate Christopher Pavik, began with a broad focus but were quickly narrowed by the leaders to the single concept of charter. In its discussion the Piru School staff had hoped to gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages associated with Charter Schools. However, the leaders rapidly took the discussion from investigation of charter schools to joining a charter association and writing a charter petition to make Piru Elementary to a conversion charter school. A conversion charter school requires the existing school to close then the newly incorporated sef-governed school is opened in its place. Many staff members believed at that point the discussion had been derailed and resulted in an end to whole staff collaboration. The conversations continued with a small group of teachers in secret. The product of these secret meetings was the petition presented to the Fillmore USD on September 16 to convert Piru Elementary School to Piru Charter School.

The founding group of Piru Charter School petitioners presenting their charter to Fillmore Unified School District are Mr. Christopher Pavik, first grade teacher at Piru Elementary School and Fillmore Unified Teachers Association vice-president and bargaining chairman; Mrs. Susan Jolley, third year teacher at Piru Elementary; and Mr. Richard Durborow, ex-principal of Piru Elementary. These primary authors were joined by seven other Piru Elementary School teachers. This number of signers was sufficient to meet the legal requirement of 50% of the permanent teachers signing the petition to be able to file the charter petition. A Piru school parent, J’nell Compos, and community member, Maria Villa, also signed. These signers were the only individuals on board the Charter train when it left the station.

Piru School has long been a centerpiece of the Piru Community. Parents walk their children to school, and many stay to walk early morning laps with their children around the field. Others stand with their strollers and exchange news after dropping off their children. Others stay and volunteer in the classrooms. School events are typically attended by multi-generational groups supporting the children and the school. The school and the community are tightly bound. Piru Elementary is the only elementary school choice for most of the hardworking parents of Piru. It is their school. When the petition for Piru Charter School was written their participation was not sought. No public meetings were held during the writing process that would have allowed parents to incorporate their views into the document. None of the parents were given opportunity to review the document before it was submitted to the District. Apparently these community members weren’t even invited to the station before the train left.

The Piru Neighborhood Council is the body that represents the interests of the community to the county for the unincorporated area of Piru. It is the forum for discussion of all matters that affect Piru. The Council was never asked by the petitioners to make Piru Charter School an item for discussion at any of its meeting. Council members first became aware of the petition after it was filed with the District. The Council was unaware that the train was coming.

Piru Elementary School employs about 30 people who work as teachers, office workers, groundsman/bus driver, cafeteria workers, janitors, student aides, and yard supervisors. The collective efforts of staff resulted in meeting and exceeding academic goals. The success of the school efforts are seen the 94 point gain of in the API over the last three years. But, when planning for the future of Piru Elementary, nine teachers went out on their own to write and sign the petition to create Piru Charter School. All other staff members were caught by surprise at the announcement of the charter petition. None had been asked for input during the writing of the petition, nor were they able to review and comment on it before it was presented to the District. Most of the “school family” was not invited on the train ride.

Collaboration is not a term that applies to the writing of Piru Charter School petition. Too many stakeholders were left out the process that resulted in the petition. Less than fifteen individuals have participated in writing a document that will have unknown consequences for the community of Piru and all the students and families of Piru Elementary School. All community members, including school workers, should have had the opportunity to decide whether they would get on board the train or not.