The San Bernardino County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to deny the charter petition appeal by Joshua Tree Arts and Technology Academy (JTATA). A petition to establish JTATA as a charter school was denied by the Morongo Unified School District on May 17. JTATA appealed that decision to the County Board on November 7. The county board had held a public hearing in Joshua Tree December 5 to consider the level of support for the petition. The appeal was denied after the Charter School Advisory Committee reviewed the petition and its attachments, conducted an inquiry into the affiliated Hi-Desert Arts Academy and the Hi-Desert Cultural Center, and considered information from parents and stakeholders, and recommended the appeal be denied. Among the staff findings were that the petition was “An unlawful conversion of a private school to a charter school.” The staff also found that a planned expansion of the Hi-Desert Cultural Center would create a conflict of interest saying, “The Cultural Center expansion will likely be funded with JTATA funds, which would run afoul to the California Constitution.”
In reaction to the denial, JTATA petitioner and Hi-Desert Cultural Center President Jarrod Radnich told Z107.7 News, “The county staff report was factually false and contained erroneous legal and logical analysis. Staff never contacted the Cultural Center for information and clearly did not perform the due diligence required of them. Not only is the expansion already fully funded, but staff’s finding that the after-school program was instead a private school is contrary to California Department of Education documents and was also questioned by the Board. These shortcomings raise grave concerns about the appeal process, and we intend to pursue our administrative and legal remedies.” Morongo Unified School District officials said the county board denial of the JTATA charter petition appeal may be appealed to the State Board of Education.
