AUSD Says East Bay Tech Academy to Voluntarily Surrender Charter Academies

After nearly a year of working through the process of attempting to open two charter schools in the City of Antioch, the East Bay Tech Academy announced it will voluntarily surrender both charter academies.

The move comes as the Antioch School Board on Wednesday was set to discuss approving a Resolution to Issue a Notice of Intent to Revoke the Charters of the East Bay Tech Academy Middle School and East Bay Tech Academy High School.

The item has now been pulled at the request of East Bay Tech Academy according to Superintendent Stephanie Anello. The district responded by sending them documentation to make the voluntary surrender official and pulled from the agenda.

Anello said this action essentially quashed the applications and East Bay Tech Academy could begin the process all over again by writing a new charter, gathering signatures, selecting a school location and getting it approved by the Board of Education.

In an email, Robert Schwartz, Board Chair of East Bay Tech Academies – Antioch, stated:

This message is to inform you that we are voluntarily surrendering the charters for East Bay Tech Academies – Antioch Middle and High School. We would appreciate it if you would withdraw item 9A from the upcoming board meeting as we have no plans to attend.

Robert Schwartz
Board Chair, East Bay Tech Academies – Antioch

At the Dec. 12, 2018 meeting, the Antioch School Board voted in a 4-0-1 (Crystal Sawyer-White left the meeting early) to reject the East Bay Tech Academy Antioch Middle School ad High School Response to Notice of Violation after it was determined that material from the Nov. 14 Board meeting provided material that was a misrepresentation and stated Clayton Valley Charter High School illegally paying for the East Bay Tech Academies legal fees of $40,000 while also showing a lack of financial transparency.

In May of 2018, the School board voted 3-2 to approve the East Bay Tech Middle School Academy and High School Academy in a meeting that lasted more than 5-hours. At the time, District staff anticipated losing $25 million in revenue over the next several years.

On Monday, Anello said she was glad that East Bay Tech Academy pulled their application because of new information that was coming forward.

“The original petitioners purposely mislead the Antioch Board of Education in order to get these charters approved,” said Anello. “I am glad the East Bay Charter Academy Board realized that you cannot cure dishonesty and thus thought better of moving forward with these two charter schools.”

She added tens of thousands of dollars have been expended by the District in working on this application and reviewing, responding to this application and subsequent information that came to light after the charters were approved. Meanwhile, it was estimated that by opening the two schools, the District was set to lose $25-30 million in funding, that money will now likely stay with the District.