Santa Rosa’s first charter closes after two decades

It started out as a typical Friday at Santa Rosa Charter School. The students rushed to claim a spot near the office to stretch and dance as part of their daily morning fitness and wellness routine, while their parents talked outside over coffee, pastries and fruit.

The mood shifted on campus as students came to terms with the fact that it was their last day together at the K-8 grade school, which was being held at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. After two decades in operation, Santa Rosa’s first charter school closed for good Friday.

“I almost cried,” said Maddi Davidson, 13, who led the workout session along with Courtney Asker, 14.

Asker, an eighth-grader moving on to Cardinal Newman High School next fall, had been attending the charter school since she was in the second grade. Many of her classmates had been there since they were toddlers.

“We’re practically family,” she said Friday before she and the rest of the middle-schoolers helped pack up the classrooms while the younger children went downtown to watch a movie.

“I’m glad I was able to get through all my (middle-school) years at this school,” Asker said.

Davidson, a seventh grader, will be transferring to Santa Rosa Middle School next year. Although she already knows lots of students there, she said she had her heart set on completing eighth grade at Santa Rosa Charter.

“I’ve developed roots at this school,” said Davidson, who first attended in fifth grade. “I was excited to graduate next year.”

The charter school, as well as a preschool and child care center, moved into two halls at the fairgrounds last year after the education cooperative lost classroom space at Hilliard Comstock Middle School. While the fairgrounds provided enough space for the classrooms, it’s unsuitable for long-term use, school director LaDonna Moore said.

School officials and supporters had hoped to find a permanent site before its one-year lease with the fairgrounds ran out this month. Staff, students and their families wrote letters and spoke to Santa Rosa school board members, urging them to help keep the school open, said Sue Green, the humanities and language arts teacher.

The Santa Rosa school district helped start it two decades ago with a loan. In February, though, school board members declined to help the independent charter school find new space or support it with bond funds. That came as a blow to students like Aleina Albert, 13, and Piper Paris, 11, who would have to find new campuses after attending the charter school since kindergarten.

“It’s heartbreaking. Our teachers are like second parents. They’ve know us since we were (little),” said Albert, who will be going into eighth grade at Reach Charter School in Sebastopol.

Chris Peterson, a board member and co-founder of the Santa Rosa Charter School, said 117 students were enrolled in kindergarten to eighth grade this year. It was half the usual enrollment. Some parents decided to send their kids to other schools because the uncertainty whether officials would be able to secure a new site.

“It’s super sad. I just want to be with my friends,” said Paris, who will be starting seventh grade in the fall at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.

On Friday morning, Paris and her classmates were working on graduation hats for a special ceremony later that evening.

Alicia Mulder, 12, said she and the rest of the middle-schoolers formed close bonds after spending years together. “I’m scared to go to another school,” said Mulder, who hasn’t decided whether to attend Reach or Mark West Charter School.

She attended another school last fall after her parents grew concerned about the fate of Santa Rosa Charter School. However, she returned after a couple of months.

“It didn’t feel like a school,” she said about the other campus.

Catrina Soudah, 12, said they’ve not only made great friendships at Santa Rosa Charter School, but also visited interesting places on field trips. Her sixth-grade class will be going to Yosemite next week, while the eighth-graders get to travel to Ashland, Ore., for the Shakespeare Festival.

“If I had one wish, it would be to graduate from this school,” said Soudah, who also has a twin sister at the school.

Some of her classmates offered earlier this year to put on bake sales to raise money, in hopes of keeping the school open.

“We teach the kids to keep trying and persevere. We modeled perseverance. We just kept trying,” said Green, whose 12-year-old son attended the school for four years.

Money wasn’t the problem, Moore said. They just couldn’t find a site with enough parking and classroom and green space to accommodate the school, which had a $2 million operating budget, she said.

“It’s been a hard road. It’s all because we can’t find a space, not because we don’t have committed teachers and dedicated families,” said Moore, who previously served as the director of the preschool, which her son and daughter, now adults, attended when they were kids.

They have to clear out all the classroom furniture and supplies from Garrett and Kraft buildings at the fairgrounds by this weekend, Peterson said. Although the school closed, she said they’re continuing to look for a location for the preschool, which first started in 1951.

The preschool, which focuses on positive discipline, has capacity for 40 children, which they reach each year, preschool director Catherine McCracken-Jones said.

They’ll be offering a summer camp program at Knox Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa.

She hopes to find a new location by January. If they have to suspend preschool for a year, she said they still have a group of parents who are committed to stick by them until they find a permanent home.

“I have faith that we’re going to do this,” McCracken-Jones said. “We have to. It’s too important and there are too many families who want to be here and raise their children in this philosophy.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.