Oasis Charter School to remain open after agreement reached

A Salinas charter school that has gotten a number of parent complaints will be allowed to stay open.

The Alisal Union School District, which oversees Oasis Charter Public School, reached the deal on Wednesday.

Oasis had until June 30 to either revoke their own charter or else have the district begin revocation proceedings.

Oasis School started in 2001. Kids can enroll in Kindergarten through sixth grade there, tuition-free. Right now, the school has about 250 students. But the school has recently seen controversy. Parents began complaining about a range of issues.

“Some of the things they pointed out too was lack of credentialed teachers, lack of implementation of mandatory state testing, usage of pesticides in instruction areas,” said Claudia Melendez, the spokesperson for Alisal Union School District. “Those were some of the issues we investigated.”

The district has validated some of those concerns, though Melendez says the full investigation will not be released until later.

The school’s executive director is already stepping down.

“Closure was not really something that district administrators preferred. But there was a concern that there was some issues at the charter. So there’s been a lot of negotiations going on behind closed doors,” said Melendez.

Those negotiations produced a mutual agreement between the AUSD and Oasis School.

Among the list of directives: Oasis must employ a new temporary executive director before the new school year starts. They also have to find a new permanent director to serve for the remainder of the school’s charter.

The district will also assign a liaison to monitor the school’s operations, which Oasis has to reimburse. Oasis also must resolve all the issues validated by the district in its investigation.

The district says they want to make sure all children have access to quality education, even if it means having to play hardball.

“Because the issues were serious enough and because the district as charter-issuing agency has a responsibility to investigate those accusations,” said Melendez.

KION reached out to Oasis Charter School for comment. They did not return our calls before deadline.

The school is expected to resume classes for the new school year.