School Board to Consider New Plan for SMASH

By Juliet McShannon
Staff Writer

Feb. 17 – In the wake of a scrapped plan to turn SMASH into a charter school, Superintendent John Deasy is expected to present the School Board this week with an agreement that places the alternative school under the guidance of a Rhode Island non-profit corporation and requires it to boost its fundraising to pay for some of the cost.

Some parents worry that the proposed agreement between the district and The Big Picture Company (BPC) "smacks of privatization” and will place undue pressure on the school to raise funds.

Under the terms of the agreement, SMASH would still be an alternative school model but would also operate under the principles laid out by the BPC education philosophy including “personalized education” and “real world learning.”

One of the main tenets of the BPC education program is small school sizes, and the agreement provides for a class ratio of one teacher per 20 students, according to the Memorandum of Understanding.

Under the agreement, BPC would provide “professional development support” by coaching principals, advisors, teachers and staff onsite. The company also would provide print materials used for “recruitment, orientation, instruction and assessment.”

In addition, the company would “provide consulting services and connection to the national network of Big Picture Schools,” which is comprised of 20 schools, three of them in California.

Deasy said SMASH would retain much of its autonomy under the agreement.
"This (agreement) would be about SMASH continuing as an alternative school model, but working with the BPC for 'professional development' purposes such as with staff and the curriculum,” Deasy said. “It won't be run as a BPC school.

"I have not worked with the BPC before but have heard of their organization,” said Deasy, who was the Superintendent in Coventry, Rhode Island before coming to Santa Monica nearly three years ago. “SMASH has requested this and I will recommend it."

A major sticking point with some parents is that the agreement requires that SMASH "must fundraise... for any part of the program not covered by regular district funding."

Some parents worry they may not be able to meet the monetary requirements should the district not provide SMASH with the funding needed to comply with BPC requirements. The agreement, they fear, would put undue stress on parents to fundraise for the school.

"Many parents send their kids to public schools for the very reason that they can't afford to pay for private schools,” said Kevin Tamm, a parent of SMASH pupils. “What if parents just simply can't give?"

This concern is echoed by Julie Lee, a SMASH parent and PTA Council member.

"I worry that this effort will be about 'teaching to the dollar,'" she said. "This agreement is really a mandate to fundraise to sustain a BPC school.

“We have already received letters from the principal about the pressing need to fundraise in the future,” Lee said. “I want our principal to be foremost an educator and not a fundraiser."

Tamm also harbors concern that SMASH would become, effectively, no different from a Charter School, a school model which the teaching staff at SMASH had petitioned vigorously for last year, but was put on hold by the School Board for not being financially feasible.

"This new agreement just smacks of privatization," said Tamm. "I see it as breaking down the institution of public schools. I don't think our schools should be run by corporations. What if the needs of SMASH clash with the agenda of the BPC?

“No longer can we choose to ignore the superintendent’s preoccupation with Charter Schools,” Tamm said. “No longer can we choose to ignore the superintendent’s preoccupation with the Big Picture Company. I'm concerned for my kids,"

Superintendent Deasy denies that the proposed agreement with the BPC is about making SMASH a Charter School, "which is an entirely separate proposal and cannot be seen in conjunction with this Memorandum of Agreement."