The Sacramento Bee- "High Spirits"
By Erika Chavez
June 11, 2004

Sacramento High School students had waited all year for this, the final week of school at a revamped campus that many wrote off before it even opened its doors last fall.

Students gleefully engaged in senior pranks, including "stealing" a principal's Mini Cooper on Monday, leaving a tiny toy replica in its place.

Yearbooks were passed around feverishly in an effort to fill them with as many dedications as possible. And on Thursday, 280 seniors picked up their purple caps and gowns in preparation for graduation today at the Memorial Auditorium.

"It's a happier place again," said Allen Young, principal of the School for the Arts, a Sac High alum and the sheepish victim of the stolen-car prank. (The car was temporarily held hostage in a gated area reserved for bikes.)

Just one year ago, Sacramento High was the subject of a nasty tug of war that divided a school board, split a community and prompted numerous lawsuits, countersuits and recall threats.

By a 4-3 vote, the Sacramento City Unified School District board of trustees supported a bid by the nonprofit St. HOPE Corp. to turn the struggling Oak Park campus into a charter school with a nonunion staff. Advocates said that freedom would create an innovative educational environment, which would improve student performance.

Critics accused the school district of union-busting and said it was illegal to turn an existing school into a charter without the consent of half the faculty.

The dispute stretched deep into last summer, with St. HOPE staff gaining final approval to open just weeks before school was to begin. It took round-the-clock work, but the school was up and running Sept. 2; the campus split into six themed academies, each with separate principals and curricula.

Nine months later, students, parents and staff give the ongoing educational experiment mostly positive reviews. Many noted encouraging changes: spotless halls, a friendly vibe and a prevailing can-do attitude.

"We seem to have a much better base of teachers who are really excited about what they're doing," said senior Jessica Dore, 18, who will study painting at the California College of the Arts in the Bay Area.

Parent Robin Netzer lauded teacher Benito Dimas, who uses an in-class pool table to illuminate geometry concepts and a chessboard to explain spatial relationships to math-averse kids.

"It's a welcoming environment, for parents as well as students," said Netzer, whose son Aaron is an incoming sophomore. "It's been terrific."

Others praised smaller class sizes and daily teacher advisory periods to monitor the academic needs of groups of 15 students.

Another big change: a counselor in each academy, for a counselor-to-student ratio of 250:1. Statewide, that average is 979:1, the worst in the nation.

"I know my counselor now," said sophomore Nelly Tran. "I didn't know my counselor last year at all."

Although overall reviews have been positive, more work is needed, said Margaret Fortune, who spearheaded the charter push as superintendent of St. HOPE Public Schools, part of the corporation run by former NBA star and Sacramento High alum Kevin Johnson.

Glitches in class schedules needed to be ironed out at first. Fortune said a few nasty fights prompted more security to create a safer campus environment.

"Our communication could have been better. We could have used more planning time," she said. "But given that it was a startup year for a new school that was under incredible duress because of public debate and lawsuits over its existence, the staff should be proud of the work we've done."

State test scores won't be released until August, but Fortune says Sacramento High has many hopeful signs. Scores for the California High School Exit Exam rose this year, mirroring a district trend. And more than eight out of 10 seniors plan to continue their education, with 25 percent attending four-year colleges and 62 percent enrolling at junior colleges, according to student surveys.

The transition was especially tough on seniors, who clung to the old school structure and rituals. They were upset that at pep rallies, students were split up by academy rather than by school grade. In the past, seniors had been excused a week earlier than the rest of the school; this year, today was their last day.

Despite the changes, "I wanted to graduate as a Dragon," said Armando Montoya, who credited teachers and counselors with helping him apply for financial aid to study nursing at Sacramento City College. "I'm glad I stayed."

Roughly 80 percent of the faculty will return next year, said Fortune. Some are leaving the area, some plan to earn master's degrees and return to the school, and others did not have their contracts renewed.

"We expect all teachers and principals to improve student achievement," Fortune said.

Marcie Launey, who as president of the Sacramento City Teachers Association had an active role in the fight to stop the charter, credited St. HOPE for its tenacity. Still, she said, she and other teachers wish things had turned out differently.

"The scars are there and in many cases, the wounds have not healed," she said.

She is pleased that the settlement reached with the district specifies that no other schools will be converted to charters without teacher approval. Now, she sees Sacramento High as the district's responsibility.

Fortune says says 1,450 students are enrolled at the school, and about 80 percent of last year's students chose to stay on at Sacramento High this year. Others chose to enroll in the Visual and Performing Arts Charter, which split off from Sacramento High, or one of the five new small high schools opened by the district this year.

Board member Manny Hernandez, who consistently voted against St. HOPE's charter proposal because he saw it as unlawful, said he has spent some time on the revamped campus and has been impressed.

"I wish the best for the students, teachers and administrators," he said. "This is now a school that, in my view, is helping a good number of students."