Ceiba charter school to remain in current location under proposed deal

A South County charter school has reached a tentative agreement with the local school district that could help it remain in its contested location and potentially end a lawsuit threatening its future.

The agreement, which is due to go before Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s governing board for a vote on Wednesday, would use the district’s authority to exempt Ceiba College Preparatory Academy from Watsonville city zoning ordinances — a move that could render an existing lawsuit against the school’s location moot.

“If approved, Ceiba would feel a sense of security that we can continue to have our school at our current site,” principal Josh Ripp told Lookout.

Founded in 2008, Ceiba serves about 500 students in grades 6 through 12. It predominantly serves immigrant communities in Watsonville and Pajaro, helping prepare students for college. The school has had a 99% graduation rate since 2015, Ripp told a 2023 Watsonville City Council meeting.

Facing a lawsuit over its location, Ceiba submitted a request to the district for a new location, and PVUSD officials proposed that the charter school move into Renaissance High Continuation, while the continuation school would move to Pajaro Valley High School. Renaissance teachers, students and staff opposed the idea and, in the end, Ripp said the school didn’t receive any formal offer from the district for that location.

Ceiba operates out of a renovated former DHL shipping facility at its Locust Street location in Watsonville. In 2023, the city council voted to rezone the property to allow the school to stay in the location, but a lawsuit filed shortly after against that rezoning could prevent the school from staying there, Ripp previously told Lookout. Watsonville Environmental Safety Traffic Industrial Alliance (WESTIA) and Marta Bulaich filed the lawsuit against the city and the district alleging violations of environmental laws, the Brown Act and city law. A trial is scheduled for May 21.

For the past several months, the City of Watsonville, PVUSD and Ceiba have been working to develop an agreement among the three parties to help the school stay at its Locust Street location.

If approved, the district will agree to exempt the school from city zoning ordinances and the school will agree to not request another location. On Monday, Ripp said that if the district exempts the school from zoning ordinances, the judge could dismiss that lawsuit against the 2023 rezoning.

Under those circumstances, the judge in the lawsuit could dismiss the case, as the zoning entitlements that WESTIA and Bulaich are challenging would no longer be “valid or enforceable by the city,” rendering the lawsuit “moot,” according to Ripp and a report to city council.

In the agreement, Ceiba agrees not to expand or develop a school-owned, vacant lot adjacent to its building. Opponents of the school’s location, including the petitioners, were against the school’s expansion into that parcel.

State law gives school districts the authority to exempt properties, including those used by charter schools, from the requirements of city zoning ordinances, the city report says.

In a letter to the city about the agreement, William P. Parkin, the attorney for WESTIA and Bulaich, said the agreement would create a “regulatory vacuum because Ceiba will operate without any conditions imposed by the City going forward” and still requires environmental review. Parkin also said the inclusion of Ceiba’s agreement not to expand, however, is a positive outcome.

“While we appreciate that this agreement would result in a great victory for my clients as the expansion was central to its cases, the city’s approval of the agreement is not exempt from environmental review for separate reasons,” he wrote.

Watsonville officials wrote in the city report that they don’t believe the agreement is a “project” subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the agreement won’t cause any physical changes.

Also on Wednesday, PVUSD’s outgoing chief business officer, Jenny Im, will ask the board to certify that the district can meet its financial obligations through 2027, even as the district faces a deficit and recent controversy over staff reductions.

The certification request comes less than a month after a contentious Feb. 25 meeting when the board approved only some of the recommended layoffs that Im and Superintendent Heather Contreras said were necessary to maintain fiscal solvency.

Teachers and staff pushed back against the budget cuts, saying the district doesn’t need to issue layoffs and can simply reduce staffing by attrition. Teachers union leaders say at least several of the 30 teachers who received layoff notices are appealing. Im resigned following the vote. Her last day is June 27.

At Wednesday’s meeting, trustees are set to review a second interim budget report, a summary of the district’s finances as of Jan. 31, 2025. All school district governing boards are required by California Education Code to review and approve the reports.

Interim reports include the general fund’s multiyear budget projections for three years. This second interim report will include budget projections for 2024-25, 2025-2, and 2026-27. Im will present the report and recommend that the district approve a positive certification, meaning the district is projected to meet its financial obligations for all three of those years.

There are two other certifications that districts can meet when approving their interim budgets: qualified and negative. If a district has a qualified certification, it might not meet its financial obligations in the current and/or subsequent two years. If a district has a negative certification, a district will not meet its obligations in the current or subsequent two years.

Even as Im plans to present a positive certification for the board’s approval, she noted that the district will be in a deficit this year and for the next two years because the layoffs the board approved in February would be enough for the district to meet its required reserves for economic uncertainty. 

The board will also hear updates Wednesday on planning for the district’s Measure M projects. In November, PVUSD voters approved the $315 million bond measure, which directs funds toward infrastructure improvements at each of its 31 schools and potentially toward building a workforce housing complex for its staff and teachers.

Wednesday’s board meeting will start at 6 p.m. and be at the city council chambers and will be livestreamed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/pvusdstreaming/live. 

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