In a unanimous decision yesterday, the Long Beach Unified School District’s Board voted to refrain from renewing another five-year term for fledgling charter school Rosie the Riveter, citing financial problems.
The tiny charter that is home to about 50 students opened just a few years back in 2007, eventually closing in 2010 due to monetary restraint, and then reopened this past school year, 2011-12, thanks entirely to funds from a federal grant scored by Women In Non-Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER).
The school’s progressive approach seemed theoretically sound: attempting to help at-risk women — or what the school preferred to call “at-promise” women — reorient their lives towards being more productive, the school focused on small class sizes, encouraged students to take tuition-free community college courses while allowing credit transfers, and create a space where violence prevention and mental health were a key part to their growth, given many of their domestic backgrounds.
The Board is reasonably fearful as to where monies will appear from once that grant from WINTER ends this year, despite their overall positive praise of the Rosie program itself. But like many charters — including New City School, which is also facing the revocation of its charter and the recent announce that Colegio New City charter high school will close its door after citing funding and enrollent issues — it has, in the words of Board member Mary Stanton at the meeting, “got caught up in the financial issues.”
CORRECTION: This article originally had a typographical error — “chater” — in the last paragraph.