A new charter school, with an emphasis on computer science immersion, could replace Bernardo Yorba Middle School in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District if the board gives it the OK.
Orange County School of Computer Science presented its proposal to the PYLUSD board in October for a charter school with an in-depth computer science program for up to 1,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students. The charter would fully take over the Yorba Linda middle school campus beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
Beth Fisher, the Bernardo Yorba principal and lead petitioner for OCSCS, is spearheading the request, saying that the school is “needed after the detrimental losses this community faces due to the aftermath of COVID-19.”
“The clearly identified learning deficiencies in the district in the area of mathematics and language arts has caused community concern and a demand that our schools address these gaps while increasing opportunities for students,” said Fisher. “OCSCS presents this petition as a means to address the needs identified by the community.”
What the new charter is slated to look like
The charter school is seeking to affiliate with the district where it could utilize its resources and keep the PYLUSD board as its governing body while also implementing its own curriculum, said Fisher.
If the charter is approved, Bernardo Yorba students would be allowed to attend OCSCS or transfer to the next closest middle school in the district, Fisher said during the Oct. 10 meeting. The closest middle school is Travis Ranch Middle School, about 3 miles away.
Teachers and staff, too, would remain at the school and be trained on the respective curriculum, said Fisher.
“I could not be more pleased with our school staff’s nearly unanimous meaningful support to convert the current Bernardo Yorba Middle School into a charter school that, pending PYLUSD board approval, will be the model for all future schools in the country,” said Fisher.
OCSCS plans to allow for enrollment of up to 600 students for the initial year. Then, by the 2029 school year, OCSCS plans to have an enrollment of up to 1,000 students. Currently, there are about 600 students enrolled at Bernardo Yorba.
According to the petition, the school will follow the PYLUSD student calendar except for no minimum days or early/late release days and an additional five no-student days.
The school would utilize the “Code to the Future” curriculum, an instruction outline created in 2014 that focuses on programming and game design, what the creators of the curriculum say are “21st century skills.”
Through history, math and science, “Code to the Future” teaches students skills needed for life under the umbrella of computer science, Nathaniel Langemann, its director of operations, said during the October PYLUSD meeting.
Although the school has an emphasis on computer science, according to Fisher, it will also encourage “unplugged engagement” inside and outside of the classroom by providing assignments and activities that teach coding but do not necessarily require computers.
The “unplugged model” will use “active and ongoing student dialogue and collaboration that supports product design, prototyping, entrepreneurism, marketing, and presentation delivery,” the petition said.
“As a parent and principal of the district, it haunts me how many students we have lost through the system,” said Fisher. “Now, we have a group that is putting the students first through this school.”
The charter school would also continue dual-language instruction offered to students at Glenview Elementary. If those students attend OCSCS, they would be able to continue with their Spanish dual-language instruction, the petition said.
“This school will be committed to actual equity,” said Fisher. “We want all opportunities to be the same for our students. But we also recognize that all students are unique and we have to meet their needs differently.”
Those who do not come from Glenview but hope to be a part of the dual-language program would need to be specially admitted through a series of exams. Fisher said these students who complete the dual-language program will be trilingual in English, Spanish and computer science by the time they graduate from OCSCS.
PYLUSD board members were contacted for comment but did not respond.
There has been no date given for a vote on the proposed charter school, but the board meets next on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 1301 E. Orangethorpe Ave. in Placentia.
Parent’s thoughts on the matter
“There are no doubts that there positives to this charter,” Bernardo Yorba parent Denelle Voegtly said. “But there has been a lack of information to families. Something that would take over a year to do is being rushed in a matter of months”
As Voegtly said, the first time that any of the families had really even heard about the possibility of OCSCS coming in and taking over the school was during the October meeting, when Fisher presented the school to the board.
“We have a whole group of us parents in the district who do not feel like we have been heard regarding the matter,” said Voegtly.
Lauren Yadav, the parent of an elementary school student and a recently graduated high schooler in the district, said that deciding where to send her student in the next couple of years has become a much more difficult decision than originally anticipated.
“When I was sending my oldest out to school, there was no worry and trouble finding his next steps. We had our neighborhood schools and they all were great academically, it was never a problem,” said Yadav. “Now, I have a fifth-grader who will soon enter junior high, and he was originally supposed to go to Bernardo Yorba, but with this, I have no idea what to do. There are too many unknowns.”
Voeglty and other parents mentioned many questions that they are searching for answers to such as: What happens to the GATE (gifted students) program? What will transportation look like for kids who decide not to attend the school? Will Travis Ranch Middle School now become overcrowded? How does this translate to attending high schools in the district?
Voegtly said she hopes these questions are answered before the anticipated vote.
There are some parents who think that OCSCS is a great addition to the district.
Erica Perez, a member of the Bernardo Yorba’s Parent Teacher Association, said that she is excited to have her daughter, a current seventh-grader at Bernardo Yorba who is involved in the dual-language program, transition to the OCSCS curriculum, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The way the schedule is set up is very beneficial for students, especially those who may be struggling in any of the subjects,” said Perez.
The OCSCS schedule allows students to be in their “core” classes the entire day, until the last hour or so of the school day where the student would then be allowed to get more one-on-one opportunities for learning.
Perez acknowledged that she sees the areas where parents could have questions and concerns.
“We have to follow the school board’s process, and I do not think there has been a lot of information given regarding the school,” said Perez. “I know that in talking with Beth Fisher, her original plan was to meet with the board and then the very next week meet with parents for an informational meeting. However, she has to follow the board’s process and that is where her hand is tied.”
Perez reiterated that although Fisher has to listen to the board, she is very open to taking meetings and phone calls if any parents have any comments or concerns.
PLYUSD’s history with charters and beyond
There are no charter schools in PYLUSD, but this is not the first program to request to be in the district. In July, California Republic Leadership Academy petitioned to institute itself as a transitional kindergarten-through-eighth grade charter school that hoped to instill values of “virtue, responsibility and accountability,” said Gary Davis, its executive director.
This petition was denied in August by the board, but CRLA has since gone to the Orange County Board of Education to appeal PYLUSD’s decision.
In April, Orange County Classical Academy petitioned for a spot in the district, requesting classroom space and use of school facilities. That request was never presented to the school board after a separate petition in opposition gathered more than 1,100 signatures.
The PYLUSD board has become known for taking action against what it sees as progressive integration in the classroom. Last year, the board banned the teaching of critical race theory, an academic concept, from the classroom, the first in Orange County to do so.
This year, it adopted a parental notification policy, a requirement that schools notify families if they have a “reasonable cause to believe that an action of a student will avert a clear and present danger.”
But during the board’s discussion on the policy, Superintendent Alex Cherniss said there could be instances when a teacher or school staff member would notify parents when they become aware that a student desires or starts to transition genders, requests to go by a different pronoun or experiences distress because their gender expression does not match their gender identity.
