A special convening of the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Trustees will occur on Wednesday, March 19 according to a letter received on Friday by leaders of the charter conversion movement for Dozier-Libbey Medical High School. The letter was signed by Associate Superintendent Timothy Forrester, and acknowledged receipt of the teachers’ petition to convert to an independent public charter school. The school board meeting, scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of John Muir Elementary School at 615 Greystone Drive in Antioch, will include both a public hearing and a final decision on the charter petition.

Since filing their petition on February 24, teachers have worked feverishly to get their message to the community as to why conversion to a public charter school would be in the best interest of the students at this nationally-recognized pathway high school.

While the conversion enjoys the unanimous support of the school’s tenured teachers, efforts to get parents more involved and informed have been hamstrung by legal action from the school district.

Teachers are hopeful that the majority of Dozier-Libbey parents will attend the upcoming Parent-Teacher-Student Association (PTSA) meeting on campus tomorrow night, March 11, at 7:00pm, where parents will have the opportunity to speak with teachers regarding the conversion. A second public forum for all concerned parents and community members has been scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at the Antioch Community Center, 4703 Lone Tree Way, on Thursday, March 13.

Although restricted from utilizing school resources, including parent communication networks, Dozier-Libbey staff have been communicating the ongoing conversion process to students and parents via social media. An informational page with daily updates has been established at Facebook.com/dozierlibbey.  It is here that questions from the community are being addressed publicly, and a copy of the 121-page petition for charter conversion, signed by the school’s faculty, is available for download.

For more information contact Jeff Weber, (925) 348-6618 or jeff_weber@hotmail.com

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2014 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.