Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 78F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Partly cloudy. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable.

Mostly cloudy early, then sunshine for the afternoon. High 77F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 49F. Winds light and variable.

“This may take on some life later on.” Marsha Napier riffled some file folders. “It needs to sit for a while.”

“It” is, or was, the charter school planned for the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District. Opening date for the first entry was set at Sept. 1994. Now, after almost a year of diligent work and out of pocket expenses, she is folding the tent, putting files in cardboard boxes, and taking the calendar down from the wall of the school’s now abandoned office in Padre Town Center.

It is not a case of Napier sitting back and licking her wounds. 

It is more of a case of her waiting for the state legislature to catch up the awesome realities of starting a charter school from scratch.

“The more I investigated the existing laws on charter schools, the more ‘Catch 22’s’ I found. It is that and a case of woefully inadequate funding,” she said.

“Perhaps we were too ambitious. Considering where the charter school law and funding stands right now, we probably were. I know. I know, I tend to go out and do things on my own,” she said ruefully.

“But I am in constant touch with Sacramento where changes in the original bill (SB 1448) are in the works. I also keep close relations with CANEC, that is California Network for Educational Charters, down in San Carlos.

But you know if you don’t start dreamer higher…” The sentence didn’t need finishing.

At the Jan. 25 school board meeting, Napier told the board she was throwing in the towel on starting a charter school in the district. But she didn’t toss it all the way into the ring. A corner of it she grasped for possible future use.

All the records, documents, and contacts she built up over the past months are in the public domain. Napier’s also willing to pitch in again, crank up the machinery, if, and it is a big if, most of the “Catch 22’s” are eliminated and a sturdy funding source emerges.

Many charter schools underway in the state now are built on existing sites, staffed with teachers and administrators already on the payroll and are ready for students. “The last I heard, 39 out of 43 are in this category. We tried to start out with none of these amenities.

“Sure, we could have started out with two portable classrooms and a couple of chemical toilets. That is one way. But if it’s going to be in Rohnert Park, it must be a school of quality. Students do not need second-rate materials on a second-rate site.

“We need to constantly pursue options for kids,” she added. “Every idea that comes down the pike needs to be investigated. We need change, everyone admits that, but it must be based on a clear definition of what the problem is. We, all of us, tend to attack problems before we define them.”

Napier’s back in the classroom again, working with a team of fifth and sixth grade teachers at Richard Crane School. In September, she returns to her counselor’s office in the Rohnert Park Junior High School, which will have a new name by then. The stillborn charter school had an advisory council and members all received letters of appreciation for the volunteer work they did.

“It was nice to see the charter schoolworking in tandem with the district,” said Napier. “The school board and a lot of the community members really pitched in and worked hard with this project. I wish I had a way of thanking all of them individually.”

She thumbed through some papers in her folder.

“I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t the time for a new school in this locale. Too many complications arose. It should be taken over as a community project with corporate funding. That would provide a firm base. In our case, the funding just wasn’t there for the broad population here in Rohnert Park and Cotati, or other towns in the county. It needs something like a statewide consortium to pursue funding and then dole out money to all charter schools.”

Irene Hilsendager’s column each week touches on moments in the history of Cotati, Rohnert Park and Penngrove.

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