21 Apr WCCUSD Renews LPS Richmond Charter Despite Calling Some Metrics ‘Pretty Shameful’

(Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Shameful enrollment and test scores for underserved students. Inconsistent academic performance. Incomplete anti-racist policies. Those are some of the things West Contra Costa Unified officials attributed to a charter school before renewing it for another five years. 

But while the district’s ruling on Leadership Public Schools Richmond’s renewal was more favorable than its words, it comes with strings attached. 

“My expectation of any charter school in this district is that it needs to be outperforming our schools by a much greater number in any metric,” said board member Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy. “I think there has to be quite a bit of work that still needs to be done.” 

Gonzalez-Hoy asked LPS Richmond, a high school that is privately operated but overseen by the district, to complete an annual progress report on their efforts to increase enrollment of students who are Black, newcomers, foster youth or disabled. 

At the request of board president Leslie Reckler, that will also include data on suspensions. 

LPS Richmond is one of two charter schools whose renewal WCCUSD has to weigh this year, while the district battles with charters to retain students — and reduce its multi-year multimillion-dollar deficit — to stay in control of its finances. 

Since 2019, WCCUSD’s enrollment has dipped by over 9%, according to data from the California Department of Education, but charter school enrollment has increased by more than 20% in that same time. 

The decline is a little less than half of the district’s enrollment decrease, a report by Richmond Confidential found. Black and white children make up a disproportionate number of students who have left district public schools. 

Those students likely aren’t making up the large number of students going to charter schools like LPS Richmond. 

Charter school enrollment is made up of mostly Latino and Hispanic students — more than 70% of the student population in 2021 and more than 80% in 2023-24. At LPS Richmond, 96% of students are Latino in the 2024-25 school year. 

“Your numbers around special education students…African American students … newcomer students … foster youth are, to be honest, pretty shameful,” Gonzalez-Hoy, noting his own experience as a newcomer, told LPS Richmond on Wednesday. 

Included in those numbers is not just their enrollment numbers but their achievement. 

According to state data for 2024, math scores for LPS Richmond are below state and local averages. English performance is higher than local and state scores.  

Performance for English has increased since 2019, according to data presented at Wednesday’s meeting, which Gonzalez-Hoy and other members acknowledged. 

WCCUSD students also underperform in English and math, with scores lower in underserved student groups. That’s part of the reason why some board members for years have thought charters are attractive to supporters. 

“We acknowledge we have work to do,” said Ruben Orona, the school’s acting principal, at Wednesday’s meeting. “As a team, we are committed to improving our community outreach, continue to offer school tours to prospect families and opening lines of communication with feeder schools like Lovonya DeJean (Middle School) and Caliber (Beta Academy).” 

Other parents and teachers showed up to support LPS Richmond’s renewal, with some praising the school for its course offerings. 

Despite student achievement that has historically been similar, Reckler and board member Jamela Smith-Folds have said perception is a problem with WCCUSD’s struggle to retain students. 

“My question is,” Smith-Folds said in part at a 2023 annual review, “how innovative are our charter schools, or are they just better with PR?”

Smith-Folds, who helped push for anti-racist policies in the district during her time as board president, was more critical of LPS Richmond’s lack of anti-racist policies on Wednesday. 

“The biggest red flag is the incomplete answer to anti-racism,” she said ahead of voting. “There is a lot of work that has to be done at every school around anti-racism, and it’s falling short when we don’t push that lever all the time.” 

LPS Richmond leaders said they have previously worked alongside Rachelle Rogers-Ard, an anti-racist specialist who also works with WCCUSD on its anti-racist policies. Without Rogers-Ard, school staff say that work has continued. 

The charter school says it has no tolerance for racism in its school and follows the Uniform Complaint Procedures, through which allegations of discrimination or harassment can be filed. 

Though WCCUSD students have banded together in the face of the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrant communities, the district has also faced its own challenges with racism — reports of discrimination against Black Student Unions, use of the n-word and board members receiving racist threats.

If LPS Richmond does not agree to the annual reports related to diversity, Gonzalez-Hoy said he’d bring back the renewal for reconsideration. 

Board members approved the renewal in a 3-1-1 vote, with board member Guadalupe Enllana recusing herself and Smith-Folds voting against. 

The next West Contra Costa school board meeting is April 30.