Las Virgenes picks new summer school operator





Penny Sylvester

Penny Sylvester

The Las Virgenes Unified School District summer school contract was awarded to a new, for-profit organization launched by a familiar face, Penny Sylvester, a longtime school activist and volunteer with the district.

Sylvester’s company, Knowledge Counts, replaces Las Virgenes Educational Foundation (LVEF), a nonprofit organization that has run summer school since 2003. The administrator for the summer program will continue to be Sharon Russell, an independent contractor who was previously in charge.

The board of education cast a unanimous vote in favor of the Knowledge Counts contract on Dec. 6.

Superintendent Donald Zimring said the school board chose Knowledge Counts because LVEF’s 30 percent overhead was “exorbitant.”

The loss of the summer school contract left LVEF founder Stuart Selter and other board members bitter and dumbfounded, especially since the group agreed to all of the conditions established in the summer school request for proposal (RFP) asking for bids on the program.

Knowledge Counts and LVEF were the only respondents to the RFP.

Over the past nine years, LVEF has raised about $ 1.7 million for the district through the summer school program and other fundraising efforts. The foundation’s contributions have saved counselor jobs, paid for the art program at the middle school, and funded teacher training and other programs.

The program also earned accredication by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, an honor that was used to attract out-of-district students to the program.

“The RFP was a contract without contract language,” Selter said. He believes the intent to use the summer school program as a profit-sharing venture between Knowledge Counts and the district is illegal. “The ACLU will come knocking,” Selter said.

“It’s the very same contract (Selter) proposed,” Zimring said. “We believe having a commercial organization offer this program creates greater protections for the district. This is not a parent- or a foundation-run program, which would be directly aligned with the district. This is a commercial enterprise running our facilities, which is very common. We in fact have had other situations with commercial rentals where the district has had a profit sharing basis.”

Deputy Superintendent Dan Stepenosky said he met with Selter after the school board meeting.

“He’s disappointed and I totally get that,” Stepenosky said. “We discussed extensively how LVEF and LVUSD can move forward productively, and I want us to focus on that. As I said to him, both proposals were very strong.”

While the WASC accreditation was impressive, Stepenosky said, “Our focus is not serving students outside of our district. We do realize that bringing in students from outside can enable a summer school to offer more classes, and that’s certainly a positive.”

Stepenosky said the decision to change summer school leadership was made because of problems with LVEF’s “fiscal transparency and reporting,” communication and other issues.

“Sharon Russell ran our free summer school before LVEF, so I don’t think there is an issue tapping her extensive experiences,” Stepenosky said.

Foundation board member Ned Davis appealed to district trustees at the Dec. 6 meeting. He asked why LVEF was not chosen after so many years of service to the district.

“Don’t expect LVEF to disappear,” Davis said.

John Tamborelli, president of LVEF, said the summer school program also generated funds for other foundation projects, including the College Application and Acceptance Program and teacher training.

“As it relates to this whole process, what matters to our philanthropic organization are the benefits provided to the students, their families and the district,” Tamborelli said. “Parents and students—and the district—knew they would receive a seamless, seamless and quality education beginning from preregistration, first-day enrollment, class size, teachers and substance all the way up to completion.”

Looking ahead

Penny Sylvester has been a volunteer with Las Virgenes schools since 1998, when she was elected to the Parent-Faculty Club at Willow Elementary School.

After years of PFC leadership at Willow, Lindero Canyon Middle School and Agoura High School, Sylvester said she is ready for new opportunities.

“I’m not creating anything new here,” Syvester said. “I see myself as a facilitator to continue the existing summer school program.”

Although LVEF’s WASC accreditation will not transfer to Knowledge Counts, Sylvester and district administrators are not worried. Sylvester said the WASC accreditation had only been in effect for one year. But she said the accreditation is something she would like to emulate in the future.

“My focus is our students, to offer them what they need,” Sylvester said. “I’m not going to change anything that’s going on in the program.”

Now that her youngest daughter is a senior at Agoura High School, Sylvester is looking forward to new opportunities.

She says keeping Russell on board as the summer school administrator will achieve a seamless transition between LVEF and Knowledge Counts.

“She predates all of us,” she said of Russell’s 15 years of experience working in the summer school program.

Kristen Marsilio, assistant principal at Agoura High School, will serve as principal of the 2012 summer school program.

Sylvester said online registration for summer school will be used this year.

“Online is the future—that’s where we’ll be growing,” she said.

Tuition rates have already been established for this year’s summer program. Sylvester said a three-week course will cost $410, and a six-week course will run $560. Rates for chemistry classes, which require three additional instruction days and lab fees, will be $435 for three weeks and $635 for the six-week course.

Summer school will start the week after school gets out, and the second semester will end on Thurs., July 26.

More information will be available online in January. Online registration will open in mid- April.


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