The state Department of Secondary Education has rejected the Pioneer Valley Chinese Charter School's expansion request after a lengthy discussion Monday night.
HADLEY -- The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education rejected the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School's request to expand its enrollment after a lengthy discussion Monday night.
State Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester had recommended the board vote in favor of the expansion. And, typically, the board "votes in line with the commissioner's recommendations, as was the case on the other items last night," according to education department spokeswoman Jacqueline Reis.
The vote was seven against the expansion request and two in favor. The board Monday night approved adding three new charter schools and the expansion of two others, which the commissioner had supported.
In an email, the school's executive director, Richard C. Alcorn, said the board's decision "came as a surprise." He echoed Reis, writing that the board "typically supports the Commissioner."
Alcorn said he will be meeting the school trustees later this week "to discuss how to move forward. I remain optimistic we will be able to make more seats available for students who wish to come" to the Chinese charter school.
The Chinese charter school had asked to increase its enrollment limit by 452 students.
The current enrollment is 471, with up to 584 students allowed to attend.
But the fact that the school is not full was in part responsible for the board rejecting the request.
Paul Sagan, chairman of the state education board in a statement said, the board voted against the expansion "was in large part a response to a concern that the school did not demonstrate to us a demand by students and their families for more capacity at the school.
He wrote that the school has more than 100 open seats available, "and the Board was looking for more evidence of demand for those spots."
Alcorn said school officials asked for the expansion now because it wants to build a new high school and needed to be able to expand to apply for and secure a mortgage.
Alcorn said the school's trustees want to offer a high school that's similar in size to others that offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which the Chinese charter school began offering in 2015. He expects an expansion would be phased in over about 13 years.
Amherst officials were among those who were concerned about the proposed expansion and were pleased with the education board's vote.
Interim Amherst School Superintendent said in an email he believes the board "saw the merit of the arguments (against expansion) made by many individuals and elected officials and boards from many communities."
The charter school serves students from more than 30 area communities.
He said board members voting against the expansion included "multiple pro-charter school Board members who voted for all other new charter schools and charter expansions last night except this one, which indicated that the concerns raised in this particular case were compelling to the Board."
Some area officials worried the Chinese school's expansion would hurt the budgets of area schools, and argued the school was not meeting its mandate to serve an ethnically diverse student body, or to serve students with disabilities or from low-income families. Alcorn has disputed those arguments, and says the school does serve those students.
Amherst School Committee chairwoman Katherine Appy, who attended the meeting, said in an email that she thinks the state board was concerned about "the impact the expansion would have on small school districts."
She said some were concerned the Chinese charter school's student population "does not reflect the diversity of sending districts."
Also she said with about 100 additional seats currently unfilled at the school, "the need for the expansion was questioned."
Appy also claimed the board was concerned about a report on exit surveys conducted with some parents of special education students who withdrew their children from the school an who expressed issues with the school.
Amherst officials sent the report -- produced by a former co-chair of the Chinese school's family association, and presented to the school's board of trustees in May 2016 -- to the state education board within the last few days.
Alcorn Monday was upset with what he called an 11th-hour campaign against expansion. He believed the state board already had the report after it was presented last May.
Appy said the report was sent "as soon as it was sent to some of us in the district and once we could verify that the sender wanted the Board to have this information."
"Perhaps it was the 11th hour, but I'm glad that the Board of Education was able take this important vote with full information," Appy wrote. "I think that's how important decisions should be made."
In regard to addressing concerns raised, Alcorn wrote: "I believe a lot of our work will focus on correcting misconception(s) by presenting additional facts."
Despite the rejection, he wrote he thinks the school "made real progress securing the support of the board for the expansion."
State officials granted the charter to the school in 2007 to teach 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. In 2012, the state allowed the school to add a ninth grade, then in 2013 allowed the school to add grades 10 through 12 with the cap at 584 students.
Chinese charter officials have been seeking the higher numbers for the last several years.
Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter Public Schools Association, wasn't surprised by the vote. The board "praised the performance of the school." But, he said, it wasn't "satisfied with the proposal itself. It wanted to the school to do more work."
He said his group does not consider the vote a rejection, but a postponement.