Mayacamas charter school leaders argue Napa district’s lawsuit violates protected speech

Leaders of the Mayacamas Countywide Middle School argue the Napa Valley Unified School District’s lawsuit that seeks to undo approval of the charter set to open in August violates protected speech.

The Napa Foundation for Options in Education — which oversees the Mayacamas school — filed a motion Wednesday that the school district’s lawsuit constitutes a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” or SLAPP.

The foundation said in a statement the California legislature provides for the right to freely petition the government to form public charter schools, and the state’s policy is to foster school competition.

“But NVUSD is abusing the courts to stifle that competition and to child the Foundation’s right of free speech and to petition government,” the statement says.

The district sued the Napa County Office of Education board and County Schools Superintendent Barbara Nemko in March for its approval of the school, arguing the board and Nemko didn’t follow the law when approving it.

Julie Bordes, a district spokesperson, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon the district wholeheartedly supports competition and free speech. But, she wrote, school districts have a duty to act in the best interests of students and families.

“If NCOE’s position were accepted, it would have a chilling effect on local school districts, preventing them from challenging illegal actions by county boards,” she added.

The lawsuit remains active, though two attempts by the district to stop the school from opening have been turned down so far. The most recent ruling, in April, also noted there’s “a very small likelihood that NVUSD will prevail on the merits of its claim in the action.”

The county schools board finalized its approval of the school May 7.

Among the district’s allegations are that Nemko and the board ignored a portion of California Education Code that prohibits existing public schools — including existing charter schools — from being converted to charter schools.

The district’s lawsuit argues that the Mayacamas Countywide Middle School is a conversion of the Mayacamas Charter Middle School — which opened for the first time in August — as it will be “operated by the same entity, employing the same teachers and staff, using the same facility and implementing the same educational program,” according to the petition.

The district also argues the board didn’t properly take into account the financial impact the charter school will have on it and other Napa districts, by sapping enrollment and therefore enrollment-based funding.

In the initial complaint, the district said the lawsuit was a result of the foundation’s “transparent attempt to circumvent an adverse trial court decision that it is currently appealing, and Respondents’ complicity in that scheme.”

That’s in reference to a prior lawsuit that the district filed against the state Board of Education seeking to undo their approval — which came in the form of overturning denials from the district and county schools board — of the current Mayacamas Charter Middle School.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the district’s argument back in June 2023. But that judgment — which could effectively shut down the current Mayacamas school — was appealed by the foundation, and the school was allowed to open this year.

But during most of the 2023-24 school year, the foundation pursued authorization for the countywide school. Because that charter school was approved through a separate process, the prior judgment would, in theory, not affect it.

The foundation argues that the district’s lawsuit is part of a “campaign to discredit the petitioners and to intimidate and threaten the NCOE Board and staff.” That includes the district’s attempts to stop the county schools board from approving the school, to stop the state board from issuing a charter school number, and to “restrain the Foundation from preparing to launch the new charter school.”

“All of the District’s actions are intended to intimidate and threaten the school, its families, our supporters, and the NCOE Board, the Superintendent and staff,” Lauren Daley, co-president of the foundation, said in a statement.

The foundation is seeking to stop NVUSD’s lawsuit, and have the district compensate it for legal fees.

A hearing on the SLAPP motion is scheduled for June 10.

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.