Charter school group withdraws petition seeking recognition in Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District before a public hearing scheduled

A petition seeking to establish a charter school within the boundaries of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District was withdrawn by the organizers before trustees could schedule a required public hearing on the matter and vote to either approve or deny the charter school.

The online K-12 school, named South Coast Academy II, proposed to enroll 500 students during its initial year, with classes commencing Aug. 20. The petition was withdrawn without explanation, according to Alyssa Griffiths, the district's public and media relations specialist.

The 181-page document was submitted to the district June 18 by lead petitioners Jennifer

Lorge and Erika Vanderspek and signed by 10 credentialed teachers. Receipt of the petition was acknowledged at a July 9 trustee meeting, but petitioners withdrew it about a week later.

The petition can be resubmitted at any time, under provisions of the Charter Schools Act of 1992, the detailed state law governing the charter school petitioning process, though minor revisions would be needed in the school calendar and budgetary time lines sections.

A similar petition for a South Coast Academy I was submitted to the Irvine Unified School District to serve 2,500 students the first year. Lorge outlined the proposal at a July 9 trustee meeting, after which Irvine board members scheduled a public hearing and vote for Aug. 20.

Lorge is principal of Inspire Charter School South, which enrolls 4,466 K-12 students, under the auspices of the Dehesa Elementary School District, an 11,706-student K-8 public school district in El Cajon that also sponsors six other charter schools.

Since the Inspire charter is in San Diego County, the school is allowed to draw students from any public school district in Orange County, as well as students from other adjacent counties. Lorge told Irvine trustees a local charter would serve mainly Orange County students.

The petition to the Placentia-Yorba Linda district outlined independent study and online instruction for 500 students supervised by 20 teachers, with a first-year budget of $4.6 million, rising to 734 students, 29 teachers and a $7.1 million budget in five years.

The only other charter school petition submitted to the district came in 2009 from Charter School Development Systems. Trustees dutifully set a public hearing on the petition, but nobody spoke either for or against the charter – even the petitioners didn't show up.

Organizers had submitted identical petitions to 91 California school districts, hoping for acceptance in 14 counties sharing borders with the state's other 44 counties, but none won approval. Placentia-Yorba Linda trustees denied the charter 5-0.

Among the Placentia-Yorba Linda district's 34 campuses is La Entrada High School, providing independent study opportunities for grades 9-12, and Parkview School, offering independent and online study, popular with K-12 home school students.