MALDEN — Despite rallying dozens of people to go to Boston to appeal a decision which denies a local Chinese language charter school to increase headcount, the immediate outcome remains unchanged.
This leaves the school in what one Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member, Margaret McKenna, called a “chicken and egg” scenario: the school can not get permission to expand further until it reaches its current cap, and it can not reach that cap unless it gets permission to expand further.
Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School (PVCICS) officials want to increase student numbers from 584 to 968 kindergarten through 12th graders. The school currently serves of 430 students.
In 2014, State Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester chose not to bring the school’s request for a maximum enrollment increase to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The initial decision, he said, was made on grounds that the school had not fully implemented its earlier expansion increase and failed to show significant demand.
As part of the appeal process to the state’s denial to approve the increase, nearly 50 PVCICS community members made the 100-mile trip to Malden to ask for a reversal of that decision at the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Malden headquarters.
At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, roughly 30 of those members spilled out of a Peter Pan bus in front of the headquarters — among them, the school’s executive director and principal, concerned parents and students. PVCICS trustees also made the trip, some of them driving.
Many shared executive director Richard Alcorn’s main worry: under the current restriction, the school can not even enroll the number of students it is currently allowed because there is not space. But the school can not expand to provide more space unless it is allowed to expand by the state board.
Alcorn said it is hard to understand why the board is “not doing anything to facilitate an alternative school which demonstrates commitment to innovation.” He also noted the high performance of PVCICS students and “unique form of education” the Chinese immersion program offers.
Several current students also spoke during the meeting, citing their positive experiences with the school.
While the board did not take any action to reverse the decision, Board Media Relations Coordinator Jacqueline Reis said “the door is still open for the school to file a new amendment request or to incorporate an expansion request into their charter renewal.”
“Whether the Board would expedite either of those is unclear at this point,” she added.
PVCICS Parent Hannah Ekwere of Amherst said she did not expect Tuesday’s decision. She noted that to her it feels like the board has discounted evidence of the need for an increase in favor of procedure.
Several board members mentioned during the meeting that an immediate overturn of Chester’s decision would set a bad precedent for the future. They did note that the school made a good case, however.
Ekwere said that although the board wants further evidence regarding the need for an increase, providing that information is difficult due to the lack of space to take on any more students than are currently attending the school.
“We need permission to grow in order to grow,” she said.