Napa County Office of Education seeks input on 2nd countywide Mayacamas charter school petition

The Napa County Office of Education board on Feb. 6 will hold a public hearing to gather input on a new charter school petition that would allow the Mayacamas Charter Middle School to restructure as a countywide school.

The item on the county schools agency’s Feb. 6 agenda notes that people can currently sign up in advance to comment at https://bit.ly/ncoecommentfeb2024.

Speakers both in-person and virtual will be selected in the order signed up, alternating between those opposed to and in support of the petition.

The hearing will be limited to an hour, including the public comment portion, which means “there is a possibility not all speakers will have an opportunity to speak due to the time limit,” the item says.

That’s a distinct possibility. Public comment at an August 2023 meeting where a previous petition was up for approval lasted roughly seven hours.

But the board isn’t yet scheduled to take action on the new petition.

Seana Wagner, county schools spokesperson, previously said the petition will likely be ready for possible action at the March 5 board meeting.

The existing Mayacamas Charter Middle School, which opened for the first time in August 2023, is under legal threat of being shut down. That’s because a June 2023 legal judgment from a Sacramento Superior Court judge — which is currently being appealed — would undo the California State Board of Education decision to overturn two local school board denials that effectively approved the school.

Should the school reform under an approved countywide petition, it would be able to operate — and effectively evade that legal decision — by being approved through a separate process. The countywide charter petition process allows petitioners to seek approval directly from a county schools board instead of a local school district. Under a typical charter approval process, the county schools board would only consider a charter petition on appeal of a local district denial.

The new petition, compared with the previous version, removes mentions of a proposed residency program at Pacific Union College and a future site in Angwin that would serve Upvalley students.

Uncertainty around those aspects of the prior petition was one reason the board delayed a decision on it at the August meeting. Some board members also said they had concerns about new information that had come up about the schools’ proposed budget and expressed that they wanted to see interest and engagement from Upvalley students.

But the petitioners pulled the first countywide petition about a week before the Nov. 7, 2023, meeting that would have decided the school’s fate.

The new petition was submitted on Jan. 16. It includes new language about partnering with businesses and community organizations throughout Napa County to provide education on real-life issues and says that school leadership will seek out college partners to provide multi-day on-campus experiences akin to the previously proposed residency program.

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.