Millennium Charter School looks to outside management to stay afloat
As an embattled charter school in Salinas fights against a move to revoke its right to exist, a southern California-based company is looking to save the school from shutting down.
Millennium Charter High School, a small arts and technology-focused school with fewer than 200 students, is facing an uncertain future. The Monterey County Office of Education issued a notice of violations to the school back in February.
“The notice of violation notified Millennium of its fiscal mismanagement, violations of law and violations of the conditions, standards or procedures set forth in its charter,” said an MCOE staff member during a board meeting on Wednesday regarding discussions on whether to revoke MCHS’s charter.
MCOE alleges the school continued to operate at a deficit, failed to properly account for attendance and hired un-credentialed teachers, all things Millennium’s governing board chair says have been fixed.
“We believe we showed pretty conclusively that all of their concerns around revocation, we’ve met,” said Jose Arreola, the MCHS board chair.
Arreola, along with many of the more than 40 people who spoke during public comment, believe Millennium is a much-needed small school option for kids in a Salinas high school district of ten thousand.
And now, supporters have new hope in a charter management organization called Compass.
“They would provide the infrastructure for our school to be able to thrive beyond this year,” said Arreola.
Compass Charter Schools manages a network of schools in Fresno, Los Angeles and across California. They have had a history of saving struggling institutions.
But MCOE board members expressed concerns about the lack of local control under Compass and wondered how oversight would work if Compass took over Millennium Charter High.
The MCOE board will meet again on June 5 to vote on whether to merge Millennium Charter High with Compass Charter Schools, as well as whether or not to revoke the charter entirely.
