After charter school audit, were Sacramento student athletes required to show support?
Parents and students of St. Hope schools packed the Serna Center Thursday night to show support for Sacramento Charter High School and PS7 Elementary and Middle schools. Many Sac High students appeared to have arrived directly from athletics practice, wearing their purple football and cheerleading uniforms.
Students arrived on charter buses that took them from the Sac High campus to the Sacramento City Unified School District office. The school provided pizza for the students as they waited for the charter renewal item to come before the board.
A message obtained by the Sacramento Bee showed that student athletes were told that they were required to attend. Prior to the Sacramento City Unified board meeting where they were scheduled to discuss St. Hope school charter renewals, Sac High Athletic Director John O’Con sent a message to parents of athletes.
“On August 8th we have 1 of 2 renewal hearing at the Serna Center, and all of athletics is required to attend. The school will provide food and transportation that will bring our student athletes from Sac High to the Serna Center and back,” the email read.
The school district held hearings at the board meeting Thursday surrounding the renewal of three charters within the district, including the two St. Hope schools. St. Hope came under fire following the release of an audit report which alleged a range of major violations plaguing St. Hope Public Schools, including conflicts of interest among its top officers, improper use of public funding, deficient accounting processes and the employment of a largely unqualified teaching staff.
Lisa Yarbrough, who provides public relations services for St. Hope, said that the message included “a misleading indication” that attendance was required, and that O’Con will be clear in the future that charter renewal meetings are not required for students.
Other written communications to St. Hope students encouraged participation in the charter renewal but did not imply attendance was mandatory.
“There will be no consequences for our scholars who did not attend the meeting last night or any future meetings,” Yarbrough wrote on Friday. “Verbal communications to students indicated this was an opportunity to engage in support of the schools but did not say there were any consequences or problems if they could not or did not want to attend.”
She also said that many of the students from both PS7 and Sac High in attendance were not athletes.
The school spent $2,800 to rent charter buses to offer equal access for students who wanted to attend, Yarbrough said. Few Sac High students drive or have access to a car, and many of their families, who are largely economically disadvantaged, would not be able to participate in the public forum without provided transportation.
“We believe that transportation should not be a barrier for engagement on an important issue that affects the schools’ future, and that’s why St. Hope made transportation available,” she said.
Several St. Hope students and parents made public comments in support of St. Hope and were met with thunderous applause from the crowd. Sac High students were particularly supportive of varsity football player Makaius Smalls as he asked the board to renew the school’s charter.
“Our school is really supportive. ... They have a lot of events to help students have fun and also feel closer to school and more comfortable,” Smalls said. “So please vote yes for charter renewal.”
Several Sacramento City Unified School District board members noted the turnout, saying they were moved by the outpouring of support for the school in the ensuing discussion of the schools’ charter renewals.
“I have to reconcile in my own mind the many, many people who are sharing success stories and the many anecdotal stories that have come out that concern me and hurt my heart,” board member Tara Jeane said. She said that students deserved to have the public funds allocated to their school spent primarily on providing them with classroom instruction.
For some, the message from O’Con has cast a shadow on the public display of support for the school.
“I think it is troubling if the school is pressuring people to come,” board member Taylor Kayatta said. “Even the implication that it’s strongly recommended to come support the school does, to some degree, put a caveat on the support that was shown Thursday night, because we’re looking for genuine support, not something that was facilitated by the school leadership.”
Kayatta emphasized that his vote to renew or deny the charter petition would not come down to public support, but St. Hope’s ability to respond to the notice of correction sent to leaders to address concerns raised in the audit report.
“At the end of the day, if the schools are able to address those behaviors in a meaningful way in their response to the notice to correct, that is going to be the foundation of my decision,” Kayatta said.
What the school is spending on public relations
In the audit report released by Christy White, KP Public Affairs is highlighted as a service that “might be atypical for a charter school with under 900 students.” The PR firm was on retainer for $5,000 a month, or $60,000 a year.
“We found two vendors on retainers for services that, in our experience, are not frequently needed and would not warrant a retainer relationship by charter schools,” the report by Christy White reads.
According to public records obtained by the Sacramento Bee, the new contract between St. Hope and KP Public Affairs shows that the retainer has increased to $5,500 a month for the 2024-25 school year.
The second service that the auditor identified was for photography and video services at $6,000 a month. Arrows Digital Media provides St. Hope with up to two hours of content strategy, six videos, 30 photos, eight infographics and one podcast per month, according to its contract with the school.
“This is a lot of photography and videography for SHPS with less than 900 students,” the report reads.
White’s auditing firm specializes in audits of local educational agencies, performing over 300 audits per year, according to their website.
Yarbrough, who is contracted through KP Public Affairs, said that it is more efficient and cost-effective to engage KP Public Affairs for its communication services and that it allows them to secure “high-quality services at a fraction of the cost of hiring in house.” She clarified that St. Hope does not pay KP Public Affairs any more than the fixed monthly fee.
She pointed to school districts like Los Alamitos Unified School District and Folsom Cordova Unified School District who have communication officers on staff who earn between $125,000-$151,000. Los Alamitos Unified has a student population of 8,900 students, and Folsom Cordova Unified has 22,000 students with a communications team of four people.
“Cost-wise, it doesn’t make sense for us to hire an in-house communications professional, as the federal minimum wage for salaried employees in California for 2024 is $66,560. This does not include medical, dental, retirement and other benefits,” Yarbrough said.
This story was originally published August 13, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
