King/Chavez CEO Tim Wolf said that the terminations of seven employees at the King/Chavez Arts Academy, one of several King/Chavez schools in Barrio Logan, were “action-oriented accountability” for mediocre academic achievement at the school. Teachers are actively protesting the firings and seeking legal counsel.
“I can’t comment on the personnel issues specifically,” Wolf said. “What I can say is, we are an organization about excellence, and that is the commitment we made in 2005, when we took over King Elementary. While the Arts Academy has made great strides in recent years, it hasn’t been achieving academic success consistent with the academic standards. When that happens, we are not afraid to make changes.”
“Charter schools have to deliver or they risk the stagnation that gave birth to the charter movement in the first place,” Wolf added. “While we’re sympathetic to the difficulties that adults have in making changes, this is about students, about families, about these kids not getting a mediocre education, but the kind of excellent education they get in our other five King/Chavez academies.”