SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Unified School District board voted 6-0 to allow St. Hope Public School 7 and Sacramento Charter High School to renew their charters. Both schools will be allowed to operate through June 2030 under the condition that they enter a memorandum of understanding to be completed next year.

The board discussed various accountability measures they would like to see present in the MOU, including conditions surrounding governance, fiscal responsibility, campus safety, suspension rates and teacher credentialing. Superintendent Lisa Allen and other district staff members will begin work on the exact terms of the MOU which is to be approved no later than June 2025.

A large crowd again turned out to the renewal vote (though in more modest numbers than the August hearing), with over a hundred students, parents and staff members turning up in their purple Sac High garb to show their support for the school. According to an email to Sac High parents obtained by the Sacramento Bee, Thursday evening athletic practices were cut short to allow for students to attend the charter renewal vote.

The board voted twice, once for each school. After each motion was approved came thunderous applause from the very purple audience.

The choice put a cap on the monthslong charter renewal process that St. Hope leaders previously called “frustrating and disappointing.” The charter school organization has faced scrutiny following the release of an audit report that alleged several major violations in the school’s governance and fiscal structure.

Leaders at both Sacramento City Unified and St. Hope characterized Thursday’s renewals as an opportunity to create a better partnership as school and authorizer following the fraught renewal process.

“I see this as an opportunity, from my perspective, that this will allow us to have a stronger relationship,” board member Jasjit Singh said. “This will allow us to build relationships, build partnerships, while also maintaining the ability of St. Hope to continue serving a community that is so nicely done and is so important to do.”

What conditions could be applied

Following a short presentation from Amanda Goldman, who directs charter oversight in the district, St. Hope Superintendent Lisa Ruda spoke about the successes of PS7 and went over the changes St. Hope has made and intends to make in response to the notice to correct sent by the district in July.

These actions included appointing a new board president to replace Cassandra Jennings, amending school LCAPs to connect spending and student outcomes and modifying contracts with their vendors (other St. Hope entities) to more clearly account for hours worked. St. Hope Academy also replaced their previous Chief Financial Officer, whose accounting license was on probation.

After Allen’s presentation, Board President Lavinia Phillips mistakenly jumped ahead of board discussion by making a motion to approve the charter without conditions. When no one seconded her motion, she realized that board member Tara Jeane had requested to speak.

Jeane went on to speak about how she was heartened by St. Hope’s thorough response to the district’s notice to correct, but that she wanted to see increased accountability going forward.

“I’d like to see those conditions continually be reported on and built on and moved on over the next five years, so that we can be confident in the partnership that we’re building together,” she said.

Goldman shared a list of staff recommended conditions to be added to the MOU. Jeane, however, specifically wanted to see conditions be met in four areas: governance, fiduciary, school programming and the retainment of qualified educators. Some of these things were submitted in St. Hope’s corrective action plan, but Jeane said she wanted to see things like a curriculum adoption schedule and proof of better accounting practices on an annual basis.

Board members Jasjit Singh and Jamee Villa also spoke to their need to see certain conditions be met in order to approve the charter.

Prior to the vote on Sac High, Jeane also asked an additional condition be put on their renewal — that the school follow a comprehensive school safety plan. Teachers and parents wrote about concern over campus safety at St. Hope schools in letters they sent to the district in May.

The charter renewal votes were both unanimous.

Reactions to five more years

Following the yes votes, Jennings said that she’s “thrilled that we’re able to continue our schools and do the work for our community.”

Sac High senior Edie Park, who spoke to the board urging them to renew the charter, said that she is happy that future classes will benefit from the same experience she had as a Sac High student.

“Although I am a senior and that this won’t directly affect me, I’m just as concerned about my underclassmen,” Park said. “I don’t have to worry because I know they will be in good hands the way that I was in good hands.”

After completing a televised interview, Ruda declined to speak to The Sacramento Bee and instead handed over a printed statement.

“We are thrilled to announce that the Sacramento City Unified School District just voted to renew the charters for PS7 and Sacramento Charter High School. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the School District. We are proud of the work we have been doing for over 20 years to educate students in Oak Park and South Sacramento and are excited to further that work in the years to come,” the paper read.

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