Members of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District: We the undersigned respectfully petition all Members of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (\"PVPUSD\") School Board to deny the petition of Theory Into Practice Academy Palos Verdes (\"TIP PV\") to establish, operate, manage, and/or promote a charter school within the Palos Verdes Unified School District. The following facts, among others, support denial of TIP PV\'s Petition: 1. Although this is being touted as a school for \"GATE\", or gifted, children, the reality is that students are selected via lottery, that most of the parents who have expressed interest have children who are not designated as GATE, and that TIP PV seeks to attract special education children for the funding they bring. Thus, the same cross-section of students will exist at TIP PV as in the traditional PV schools. 2. Establishment of the school ultimately may require PVPUSD to expend District funds on students residing outside District borders. In this regard, if -- like most charter schools -- TIP PV is unable to join a SELPA, special education students from outside the district that enroll in the charter become the responsibility of PVPUSD. 3. Differentiated instruction is a fundamental tool in education and is employed by all good teachers. This is exactly what PVPUSD promotes on its website and mission statement and the District has proposed \"differentiated instruction coaches\" at each school site. Nearly every teacher in the district has had training in this. Thus, TIP PV would not serve as a model for other public schools nor would it provide opportunities not readily available to students in the District. 4. TIP PV touts specially trained teachers vetted by Sandra Kaplan as the major attraction, but is attempting to hire teachers from PVPUSD schools. This would deprive the traditional school children, including GATE students at those schools, of teachers the GATE kids already can access. 5. TIP Academy Encinitas (on which this proposed school is being based) even uses the same \"Everyday Math\" program that PVPUSD uses. Its homework policy is the same, most classroom numbers are the same, and the Academy\'s test scores are lower than any school in this district and lower than several schools in the Encinitas school district. 6. The PVPUSD intermediate school experience presently includes opportunities for students a charter school cannot: highly trained single subject teachers, science laboratories, libraries, high school-level physical education facilities, sports teams, music, art, drama, cotillion, and more. In contrast, sixth through eighth grade students at the proposed charter school would be limited to 1-2 teachers covering 2-3 subjects each. PEF funds would not extend to a charter school. 7. A school district must provide facilities to in-district charter school students (although these facilities can be at different campuses and the district would have no obligation to provide classrooms for out-of-district students). To meet its obligation to provide facilities, the PVPUSD could be forced to increase class size or alter attendance areas at existing PV schools to make room for charter students. Students in traditional schools will pay the price. 8. Although a charter school would be a separate \"district\" within PVPUSD, PVPUSD administrators will be charged with its oversight. Oversight costs would significantly exceed the 1 percent the charter school must pay to the District. 9. The proposed charter school presents a significant opportunity for self-dealing by individuals who already are affiliated with TIP Academy Encinitas and the related non-profit, TIP Education, Inc. TIP PV founder **** presently earns a salary from TIP Academy Encinitas as its Chief Operating Officer. His wife **** serves as Principal of the same school, which has a line item for certificated supervisors and administrator of $110,000. Both **** sit on the Board of Directors of TIP Academy Encinitas and also are affiliated with TIP Education, Inc., the non-profit that provides curriculum, teacher training, etc., to TIP Academy Encinitas for a fee. **** nalso sits on the board of both of these organizations. TIP Academy uses **** model. Thus, each of these individuals stands to profit personally from TIP PV. 10. As CEO of TIP Education, Inc. and COO of TIP Academy, **** is buying his own product from himself with public funds. (The TIP Academy Encinitas budget for 2007-2008 shows a line item for books and supplies of $112,440.) This is self-dealing in the truest sense. A further conflict exists by virtue of the fact that TIP Education, Inc. will oversee and provide materials to both TIP PV and TIP Academy Encinitas -- even though the schools will reside in different school districts. 11. **** also was an administrator at Guajome Academy Charter. Guajome has been questioned because of the number of members on its board with a financial interest in the school. 12. **** presently is the lead petitioner for establishment of The Theory Into Practice (TIP) Academy Junior High within the San Dieguito Union High School District. He stands to make money as a founder of that school as well. 13. **** also was the petitioner of Media Arts Academy (Charter) in Hawthorne. Media Arts is currently under investigation and has been given a \"notice to remedy\" based upon operational and legal deficiencies. 14. **** is the founder of New Education for Communities, Inc. (\"NEC\"), a company similar to TIP Education Inc., which was suspended by the Secretary of State (6/07/2007) and the Franchise Tax Board (12/03/2007). 15. Precedent for denial of the charter school exists! In 2004, the Murrieta Valley school district twice rejected **** company **** petition for a charter school on grounds that the plans for the school were inadequate and incomplete, and the proposed Santa Rosa Academy charter school does not exist in that district. According to newspaper reports, the administrative staff and legal counsel did not believe the financial plan for the school met the requirements to be financially sound. PLEASE NOTE: On February 22, 2008, we were notified by Ipetitons that complaints had been lodged in connection with this petition and that Ipetitions therefore had deleted names contained in the text of the petition relating to individuals associated with TIP Academy in Encinitas, TIP Education, Inc., and/or other charter school ventures. In this regard, Ipetitions advised,

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