School District to Hold Special Meeting on Tuesday Regarding Wood School, Junior Jets

The Alameda Unified School District Board of Trustees have scheduled a workshop for Tuesday, February 19th, at 6:00 p.m. at the Encinal High School Cafeteria to discuss plans to move the ACLC charter facilities from Encincal High to Will C. Wood Middle School, to make way for the Junior Jets program.

Under Proposition 39, the district must provide reasonably equivalent facilities to charter schools. The Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC) charter school has been hosted at Encinal High School, but for the 2013 to 2014 year, the school district instead offered nine classrooms at Will C. Wood middle school. The school district wants to host the Junior Jets 6th to 8th grade magnet school at Encinal High.

In a January 27th letter to ACLC Executive Director Paul Bentz, the District challenged ACLC’s projected enrollment for the 2013 to 2014 year of 310 students saying that it estimates ACLC enrollment at 277 students. The District also wrote that “ACLC has also shown a pattern of over-projecting enrollment over the years, most recently projecting 288 in-district students for the 2012-13 school year, while only manifesting 277 students.”

The District projects Junior Jets enrollment at 195 students, would would require eight classrooms. Some 150 students have expressed interest in the program, according to the District presentation.

Additionally, the School District expects that elementary school expansion to 7th grade, and the Junior Jets program, would “substantially decrease the enrollment of 6th – 8th grade students at all programs in Alameda.” This would presumably mean decreased enrollment at Will C. Wood Middle School, freeing up classrooms.

Like Washington Elementary School, Will C. Wood has lagged in performance in recent years; at the beginning of the current school year, Washington Elementary was converted to a magnet school and renamed Maya Lin School.

Speaking with Action Alameda News, School Board Trustee Trish Spencer explained that she had some concerns about the Junior Jets projected numbers that she hoped could be cleared up at Tuesday’s workshop. In any event, she encouraged parents from all impacted schools and programs to attend the workshop.