Letter from the Summit Middle School Board of Directors

Tuesday, February 4, 2020
 

Dear Summit Middle School Community & Sanitas Academy Supporters,  

Over the last few years, the Summit Board of Directors has engaged in a determined effort to create an innovative new charter high school for BVSD. After thoroughly considering all viable options for the launch of Sanitas Academy as well as the needs of our middle school community, we have come to the conclusion that the conditions are not right for pursuing this challenging endeavor. Therefore, the Summit Board of Directors has withdrawn the application for Sanitas Academy and has no plans to take up the effort in the future. 

I thank our school community for patiently allowing our team of experts to collaborate with the Summit Board of Directors in exploring all possibilities and weighing all options. 

Special thanks to Emily Puetz and the Sanitas Academy team for their tireless efforts and remarkable progress. We learned a great deal through our efforts and although we feel disappointed, we are not regretful and have much to be proud of in pursuing this worthy cause. We extend enormous gratitude to all those who supported our vision, and we hope that someday a new high school like Sanitas will materialize for BVSD. 

Below, you will find the correspondence I sent to the BVSD Board of Education thanking them for their collaborative spirit in this endeavor. 

Sincerely,

Jill Oliver
Chair of Summit Board of Directors  
 

****Letter to BVSD Board of Education****

Greetings BVSD Board of Education & District Administration -

We wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for the time and energy expended to weigh the issues and propose a contract for Sanitas Academy. We particularly appreciate the responsiveness to the initial concerns we surfaced about the contract and the conversations that ensued as we attempted to resolve them together. Unfortunately, the Summit Board of Directors is withdrawing the application for Sanitas Academy. 

We remain excited about the idea of a diverse-by-design school in East County but do not believe the current form and timing will work. Locating a facility for this new school has been a challenge since the beginning of this effort and remains the central concern for the Summit Board. Without a clear path to a facility for the school following an initial launch, the Summit Board is unwilling to take a risk for the school that a solution may or may not emerge. The Summit Board and the Sanitas team feel that there isn’t sufficient time to prepare for and to effectively welcome new 9th graders to high school by the fall of 2020.

We appreciate your willingness to come to the table on behalf of this effort. We are hopeful that this idea of a new, diverse, innovative and excellent school may still launch with different timing and perhaps in a different way. We hope to be able to engage with you in further conversations in the future. 

Sincerely, 

Jill Oliver
Summit Board Chair and Sanitas Academy Team