Petition in Alpine Asks State to Void Charter
This entry was posted on 5/13/2006 8:29 AM and is filed under News and Media.
CALEB WARNOCK - Daily Herald May 13, 2006
Alpine residents have gathered hundreds of signatures on a petition demanding the state charter school board rescind the charter of Mountainville Academy.
Petitioners allege Reps. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, and Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, have abused their power and have "ethical conflicts of interest" associated with the school, as well as some Alpine city officials. Morley and Ferrin are involved with the company building the school.
Morley denies the accusations, though, saying those opposed to charter schools have tried for several years to prove he and Ferrin have a conflict of interest. But a legislative ethics committee investigation into his and Ferrin's involvement in charter schools found no wrongdoing, Morley said. Ferrin did not return a call for comment.
Marlies Burns of the Utah Charter Schools Office said to date no charter school in Utah has had its charter revoked. Petitioners from Alpine are scheduled to meet with the board on May 20.
Residents of the Healey Neighborhood in Alpine organized themselves into an anti-Mountainville group after learning the school was eyeing their neighborhood after neighbors at the school's first site on 100 South went to city meetings demanding the school find a new location.
Before presenting the petition, members of the group are working to gather as many signatures as possible and want to give every Alpine resident a chance to sign, said organizer Dave Barlow.
Even though the school has yet to file an application for construction with Alpine officials for the site, Healey Boulevard residents have already crowded into a Planning Commission meeting and a City Council meeting to vent their anger about the proposed school.
Gaylee Coverston, Mountainville board member, said that in investigating a Healey Boulevard site the school was only doing what the city had asked it to do -- find another location, even though it already has all the local and state permissions needed to begin construction on its first site choice on 100 South in Alpine.
Neighbors of the 100 South site were so vocal in their anger about that site choice that city officials asked Mountainville organizers to find a new site for the 675-student school, despite warnings from the city attorney that residents at any new site also would protest having the school nearby.
"We are really trying to work with the city and they asked for multiple sites," Coverston said. "We want this to be a united effort with the city, but at the same time we would love to have respect from the residents. We want to be welcomed and be part of the community. That is what Mountainville is all about. It is about the things we want our children to become."
"Unlike traditional public schools, most students are dropped off in the morning by cars from outside the residential neighborhood in which the school is located," Barlow said about the charter school in a statement.
"Then in the afternoon, they are picked up and taken out of the neighborhood," he said. "This adds significant stress to traffic on residential streets in a community like Alpine."
"Our rights have been taken away by House Bill 172," said Healey Neighborhood resident Calli Taylor, referring to state legislation mandating that city councils cannot turn away any public school.
The lottery that charter schools sometimes use to determine which students are accepted means "you could be living next door and your child is not able to attend," she said. "And we have no voice because the way House Bill 172 was written does not allow us to address things like traffic concerns.
"I'm also concerned that House Bill 172 was written by the very developer and financier, James Ferrin, that is looking to put this school on my street."
The company building the school, U.S. Charter Development, is owned by former Utah legislator Glenn Way. Ferrin, R-Orem, lists U.S. Charter Development as one of the businesses with which he's associated on his Declaration of Conflict of Interest for the Utah House of Representatives. Morley doesn't specifically list the company on his declaration, though he lists "charter school development, including construction and lease back of facilities."
In addition, because their wives are spearheading efforts to organize Mountainville Academy, Mayor Hunt Willoughby and Councilman Thomas Whitchurch have conflicts of interest that should preclude them from voting on or supporting the school, Barlow said. Council members have publicly denied conflicts of interest.
Morley said Healey neighbors have threatened charter school founder Rebecca Whitchurch "and told her they would destroy her and her husband in town and drag their name through the mud to get this charter revoked."
"I feel so bad for the Whitchurches," Morley said. "They don't make one dime for the work they are doing. They donate their time and effort to promote something they believe in, which is school choice, and they have received threats and letters from this group that is uncalled for."
Whitchurch did not return calls for comment.
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