On Jan. 22, Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendent Francisco Escobedo introduced the possibility for middle school expansion to the CVESD Board of Education, marking the beginning of the process to try to streamline their students’ education from kindergarten to eighth grade.
“We have invested a great deal in our students in K-6 and we’re responding to parents’ interest and concerns about what happens after sixth grade,” CVESD Director of Communications and Community Development Anthony Millican said.
Expansion to seventh- and eighth-grade education would be in addition to the five charter middle schools that CVESD currently partners with.
Charter schools are defined by the California Department of Education as public schools that operate independently from the existing school district structure, making them free of the state statutes and regulations that apply to school districts.
There are two ways CVESD could approach middle school expansion.
According to the California Education Code, CVESD could either expand to include seventh and eighth grade through an electoral process or through a charter process, but CVESD is leaning toward the charter process, according to Millican.
“The reality is complex, we’re exploring the idea and we want to make sure it’s a thoughtful deliberation,” Millican said.
Under the electoral process, all voters within Sweetwater Union High School District’s bounds would vote on the expansion because that is the junior high school district within which CVESD is located.
During the Jan. 22 board meeting, Escobedo explained that if CVESD took the electoral route and people voted for expansion, all middle schoolers within CVESD’s bounds — more than 6,000 of them — would be required to attend CVESD and CVESD doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate that many students right now.
This would also present potential complications with Sweetwater Union High School District.
The charter process route entails CVESD submitting an addendum to expand seventh- and eighth-grade education at one of the charter schools they already partner with, which would have to be approved by the charter school governing body and the CVESD Board of Education.
The CVESD Board of Education directed Escobedo to come back with more information about the charter route at the next board meeting on Feb. 12.
