UNION CITY, CA— The NHUSD denied Dashmesh Academy’s petition for a charter school on Tuesday, November 19 in the Fremont area. The hearing saw a vast majority of speakers from various communities speak in favor of the charter school, with only a few representatives from the teachers union speaking against.
The Union City community came out in strong support of the petitioners, asking for more choice for their children. The charter petitioners are seeking a school in which they can address individual needs of students. The school would also reach out to the community and parents in multiple languages in order to ensure that every demographic of the Union City community is welcomed at the school. The speakers in favor of the charter included: Luis Reynoso, Ram Singh, Bob Swanson, Harinder Singh, Audie Bock, Tarun Singh, Jim Navarro, and Kashmir Singh.
The board approved a resolution to deny the charter based on the school district’s “Findings of Fact” which alleged that the charter did not meet the requirements of the education code. The petitioners led by Ram Singh addressed many of the NHUSD’s “Findings.”
Many of the findings by the district alleged that things were missing in the petition despite them being clearly identified. In addition, the petitioners submitted a written response to all 57 objections made by the district.
The board voted 4-1 in favor of denying the charter on Tuesday. Sarabjeet Cheema, the only one to not deny the charter, spoke for 5-10 minutes against the charter. Cheema, ultimately left the audience stunned when she voted against the resolution to deny the charter.
On the Dashmesh Academy facebook page, the petitioners vowed to continue the work on the charter. The next steps include going to Alameda County to appeal NHUSD’s decision. To date, only one of the few dozen charter schools in Alameda County was approved without appealing a district’s decision. Citing this fact, the petitioners vowed to continue the fight for more parent and student choice.
It’s pretty amazing that Cheema first spent five minutes speaking in favor of the resolution, but then voted against the resolution. This is like saying, “I know this Dashmesh Academy charter school proposal is bad but I’ll vote for it just so the vote isn’t a 5-0 shutout.”