PACT program gains alternative school status PACT program gains alternative school status (June 15, 2001)

By Kris Resellmo

The Mountain View School District board unanimously approved the PACT program's request for designation as an alternative school at its meeting June 4. There were some objections to the designation by parents at the meeting, who claimed that PACT promoted educational inequalities, but most speakers supported the proposal.

The Parent Child Teacher program has been an elective program at Slater School since 1996. It requires parents to volunteer and focuses on hands-on learning, both inside and outside the classroom.

The request for alternative school status was originally submitted to the board June 19, 2000, but the trustees asked the program to include more information about why designation as an alternative school was important, and a comparison of test scores for PACT students with those for the entire Slater population. According to trustee Carol Fisher, the board sought the information because of "concerns that having multiple programs caused a sense of cliquishness."

The test scores presented at the June 4 meeting indicated that PACT students' did the same or slightly better in math and reading than the Slater population as a whole.

PACT parent Kathleen Bransfield presented the proposal to the board. The program requested designation as an alternative school "for three reasons: integrity, accountability and flexibility."

The new designation will not have an impact on funding, according to Bransfield, and the program will continue to be funded by the district. Hiring for the program will also be handled at a district level, as it is now.

As an alternative school, PACT will now have to submit an annual report to the school board and the California Department of Education, Educational Options Office. The report must include a review of test scores.

Bransfield stressed that the program was "open to any family who believes in the philosophy of PACT. No kids have been denied enrollment." The program would like families to volunteer time, but it is not an absolute requirement.

However, she said that in a program where classroom volunteers are so important, the "majority of families should volunteer." Bransfield did not know how the program would handle enrollment if many non-volunteering families wanted to enroll. "I can't answer that, because we haven't had to face that situation yet."

PACT also asks for a $100 donation from participating families, although some contribute less, more, or nothing at all, depending on each family's financial situation, Bransfield said.

The request for alternative school designation focused on the contributions of PACT to the Slater community, among them keeping the computer lab and the library open to all students at noon.

According to the request, 133 students in grades K-5 are enrolled in the PACT program at Slater school, or about 30 percent of the total student population. Of those students, about 31 percent have transferred from other programs at Slater. The program is taught by seven teachers.

PACT also does fund-raising, primarily to fund field trips and extracurricular materials.

Parent volunteers help in the classrooms with specific parts of the curriculum, often in small cooperative groups. Instruction in PACT classes takes place at the same time as regular instruction, and PACT kids have recess and lunch with the rest of the students.

Parents in the program are required to volunteer two hours a week, and to participate in one of several committees in the program. Each parent also spends about two hours a month volunteering for Slater school.

At the board meeting, Susan Butterfield, a Slater parent for 12 years, praised PACT. "I moved my daughter into PACT. She had a learning disability . . . but she was never treated differently by the PACT teachers," Butterfield said.

Another speaker in favor of the alternative school designation was Bonnie Laster, a PACT teacher. "We work very closely with, and we train the parents. We are continually striving for more diversity," she said.

Nonetheless, some parents and teachers voiced objections, mostly about PACT rather than the designation as an alternative school.

Leo Wilkes, Slater parent and member of the school site council, protested the designation. Referring to the upcoming merger of the Mountain View and Whisman school districts, Wilkes said, "This board, if it approves [the request] will make a decision a new board will be responsible for. [Not approving the request] is the courteous and responsible thing to do."

Wilkes' concern about the appropriateness of the current school board deciding on the PACT program designation was addressed by board president Roger Noel. "It is my feeling that it is appropriate for the board to take action on this issue. We are still in charge of the Mountain View School District," Noel said.

Allison White, a teacher at Slater, said last week, "There's so many inequities at Slater school." White said that the extra field trips for PACT students was one of the biggest differences. She charged that there was a lack of district oversight to make sure the needs of all the kids were met. "The district is not doing anything to protect the other kids [students not in the PACT program] from feeling like second class citizens," White said. "PACT would be better off somewhere else."

After the approval of the request, White said, "I don't think [PACT] will see any reasons to resolve the inequities."

Still, White reckoned the disparities had decreased and the situation "had very much improved from last year."

According to Laurie Adams, the attendance and health clerk at Slater, the school was chosen as site for the PACT program because the principal at the time volunteered the school.

Two of the board members, President Noel and trustee Rose Filicetti, have children in the program. Filicetti did not think that voting on the proposal constituted a conflict of interest. She said that board members are required to recuse themselves in case of financial interest. "I chose to vote on this issue involving a district-wide program -- open to any student -- one with no such financial consideration," Filicetti said.

"If I recused myself from discussing and voting on any program involving my children, I would abstain from voting on many, many programs in our district," Filicetti said. Because she has experience from many district programs, she is able to make a more informed vote, Filicetti concluded.