Lynn Mitoma holds a Masters degree in Education from San Francisco State University and Bachelors degrees in both Psychology and Spanish from the University of California at Berkeley. She holds Preliminary and Professional Clear Administrative Services Credentials as well as a Multiple Subject Professional Clear Teaching Credential with Spanish Bilingual/Cross-Cultural Emphasis. Lynn has over 17 years experience working in the field of education. She has held a wide range of teaching and administrative positions including Spanish Immersion Teacher, Head Teacher, Program Resource Teacher, Bilingual Resource Teacher/LEP Coordinator, Title VII Administrator, Site Administrator, and District Office Coordinator. She has been employed as an administrator and consultant in the Oak Grove School District since 1993, working with the Educational Services, Human Resources, and Business Departments. Her recent responsibilities have included budget development and oversight, teacher training and evaluation, grantwriting, program development and assessment, curriculum development, and special events coordination.

During her years as a Spanish Bilingual/Newcomer Teacher and Head Teacher for the Mission Education Center in the San Francisco Unified School District, she received extensive training in second language acquisition and primary language instruction. Here Lynn provided primary language instruction, intensive English as a Second Language, and orientation skills for living in the United States to newcomer students. She also supported training for newcomer parents.

Lynn has given workshops for staff, students, parents, and community members in areas including Bilingual Education Compliance, ESL for Adults, Conflict Managers, Transitional Reading, Cooperative Learning, Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA), Parents as Teachers, Cooperative Discipline, Peer Coaching, and Being a School Volunteer. She also has received extensive training in all core curriculum areas, as well as many other topics including: Bilingual/Special Education, Second Language Acquisition, Teaching Strategies for a Changing Student Population, Primary Language Instruction, Title VII Grant Administration, Hughes Bill Certification, and Closing the Achievement Gap.

Lynn is a member of the Association of California School Administrators and Phi Delta Kappa. She has also spent many hours volunteering in her son’s preschool and elementary school.

Dana Miller holds a Masters degree in Physical Therapy from Boston University and a Bachelors degree in Human Performance/Athletic Training from San Jose State University. In addition to working in these fields for 11 years, she taught a course at SJSU and developed, coordinated and instructed several patient education programs at Good Samaritan Hospital Physical Therapy. She has also worked with severely disabled children and adults. Dana has mentored students in physical therapy and athletic training as well as assisted in teaching continuing education courses. She has attended courses in Charter School Development and Charter School Governance offered by the Charter Schools Development Center.

For four years, Dana volunteered at the Morgan Hill Parent Child Nursery School, a non-profit preschool where parents play an integral part in the operation of the school. She served for two years as a member of the preschool’s board of directors and has completed coursework in Positive Guidance and Discipline for Children. Dana also volunteered in her child’s Kindergarten class, working for over three hours per week in the classroom. She and her husband, Mike, have volunteered for many years coaching youth sports for children ages 4–18 years.

Mary Smathers holds two Masters degrees – one in Education and the other in Educational Administration and Policy Analysis – from Stanford University, where she also received her Single Subject Teaching Credential and her Preliminary Administrative Services Credential. She also holds a Language Development Specialist Certificate. Mary speaks Spanish, which she studied at UC Berkeley, UNAM in Mexico City and Centro de Estudios Cultural in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. She earned her BA in Latin American Studies from UC Berkeley.

She has 16 years experience working in San Francisco Bay Area schools as a teacher and as a site and program administrator. She taught social studies and English at San Lorenzo High in the East Bay and Alisal High in Salinas. At Alisal High, Mary also worked in the bilingual program teaching Sheltered Social Studies and ESL. She served as Assistant Principal at Salinas High School. She coordinated a Healthy Start program for the Fremont Union High School District in Sunnyvale and Cupertino Union Elementary School District and also did grant writing, program development and wrote state mandated reports for the Fremont district. Most recently, Mary served as the coordinator for the Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program in the Gilroy Unified School District for over three years.

Mary currently works as a Director of Educational Partners at WebLearning, an internet education company which she co-founded in 1997. Mary is a founding member of Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI), a curriculum development company producing innovative activities for social studies teachers. During her tenure with TCI, she trained teachers throughout the nation on innovative teaching strategies and curriculum design. She has also volunteered in elementary and preschools for seven years. She has served as President of the Morgan Hill Parent Child Nursery School, and also as Board Advisor.

Paige Cisewski earned a Masters degree in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While at Stanford she was part of the prospective principal's program to which only six students are admitted each year. During her undergraduate work, she was involved in an education program which focused on multicultural education. She also worked with Dr. Carl Grant, professor and author, helping to edit his book entitled "Bringing Teaching to Life." She completed her second tier for administrative credential at San Jose State where many of the classes focused on serving at-risk students and resiliency.

Paige has been working in the field in education for over 10 years. Six of those years were spent teaching at a variety of levels at elementary and middle schools in the Campbell Elementary School District. Her other four years of experience came from being an elementary principal in the Los Gatos Union School District.

While working as a teacher in the Campbell district, Paige was the lead negotiator for the teacher’s union. As an elementary school principal, her responsibilities included serving on the School Site Council, facility improvements, working with the Home and School Club, overseeing the school budget, writing and implementing the technology plan, networking the school, writing grants, teacher hiring and evaluation. She also served on a variety of committees at the district level – the History/Social Science curriculum committee, Language Arts curriculum committee, two bond committees, a parcel tax committee, and the district facilities committee.

Marji McMillan holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and met the educational requirements for a school psychology credential from California State University Hayward. She also holds a Bachelors’ degree in Human Services with minors in Psychology and Art and Art Therapy Specialization from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She obtained her License in Educational Psychology (LEP) in 1997 and holds a credential in Pupil Personnel Services in School Psychology.

Marji has over 15 years experience working in the field of Psychology spending the last nine years as a school psychologist. She is currently employed by the Morgan Hill Unified School District as a school psychologist working with grades 4 through 9. Marji is a member and past president of the Santa Clara County Association of School Psychologists. She also spends time volunteering at the Morgan Hill Parent Child Nursery School.

Kathy Funke earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Education from the University of California at Davis. She holds Single Subject Credentials in Agriculture and Life Science and a Specialists Credential in Agriculture. For seven years, Kathy taught courses at Soquel High School for both the Santa Cruz Regional Occupational Program and Santa Cruz city schools. Subjects included Veterinary Science, Farm Management, Life Science, and Physical Science.

While teaching at Soquel High School, Kathy worked extensively to create a Parent Boosters Organization. This booster group teamed with the community to begin construction on the Agriculture Departments Farm Facilities. The combined efforts of parents, students, and teachers resulted in the complete construction of a 900-square-foot large animal barn and a rabbit raising facility. Kathy also advised and supervised the FFA program and Student Occupational Experience Projects (SOEP) at Soquel High School.

Prior to teaching, Kathy was involved in 4-H youth leadership programs in Santa Clara County. Currently, Kathy works for the Santa Clara County Office of Education as a substitute teacher of the severely handicapped. Kathy has been actively involved with the Morgan Hill Parent Child Nursery School and serves Vice President of its board of directors.

Elaine Feeny is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Masters in Business Administration from Golden Gate University and a Bachelors’ degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University. She has over ten years of experience working in Public Accounting, Internal Auditing, and Consulting Services. Elaine is a current member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, San Jose Chapter and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Susan Vater has two undergraduate degrees (BS in nursing and a BA in Fine Arts) and an active status R.N. license. She also does consulting work as a technical writer.

As the SVCS Fundraising Committee Chair, Susan enrolled in and completed a grant-writing course through Compasspoint, a support agency for non-profit organizations. During the last three months, she has attended fundraising seminars including Kim Klein’s "Fundraising Basics" and a grant-writing workshop offered by the California Department of Education’s Charter School Division. The CDE seminar was a designed primarily to assist charter school developers in applying for grants during the January 2001 Request for Applications timeframe. Susan has participated actively in school fundraising for the last 12 years: planning special events, participating in SCRIP sales, organizing merchandise sales, and writing for fundraising projects.

Jayne Marsh earned her Associate of Science in Interior Design from West Valley College in 1983, and passed the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) exam in 1986. Her experience includes Project Consultant to various interior design and architectural firms in the greater Bay Area; Interior Design Instructor at West Valley College; Project Manager/Associate with Weske + Associates in Milpitas; Project Manager/Associate with Leason Pomeroy Associates in Santa Clara; and Project Designer with Ambiance Associates in Mountain View. Major projects Jayne has designed and managed include office, retail, health care and school space, amounting to approximately one million square feet.

Rhonda Buss graduated from the University of Southern California in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in both Public Administration and Urban and Regional Planning. She graduated with Honors and with the Recognition of the Senior Honors Program. Upon graduating, continuing education was pursued in Land Planning at the University of Irvine. Experience includes work for the City of Lawndale, CA Planning Department; Hopkins Development Corp., a commercial developer in Newport Beach, CA; Robert Bein, William Frost, and Assoc., a Planning/Engineering firm, Irvine, CA Project Manager/Coordinator; City of Golden, CO Planning Department- Planner. Major projects include the planning, processing, and project management of the 5,000 acre Coto de Caza, the largest private planned community in California, the writing of Area Plan Implementation Reports, (Environmental Documents), preparing Staff Reports and aiding in the preparation of the City of Golden General Plan.

Vanessa MacLaren-Wray holds a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University and has worked for over fifteen years in the electric utility industry. She currently works as an independent consultant. Her business focus is the development of specialized software for analyzing electric generation and transmission systems and for evaluating power markets.

Dr. MacLaren-Wray has also invested significant time over the past seven years volunteering in her children’s schools. She has served as Treasurer for the parent-teacher organization and has worked on many fundraisers. She has supported teachers as a classroom worker for computer labs, math workshops, science projects, reading instruction, and student testing. She organized and ran a year-long after-school science program for G.A.T.E. students at Jackson Elementary and mentored a team of Jackson students for the Tech Challenge, an engineering design competition. She also serves as a photography instructor for Lyceum, an after-school enrichment cooperative

for gifted children.

Ellen Fairey attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated with two degrees in Political Science (with Distinction) and Journalism (with Honors) in 1980. She obtained her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, in 1983. She is an eighth generation Californian, born and raised in Southern California. She is a descendant of Manuel Butron, a Spanish soldier who assisted Father Serra in establishing the mission at Carmel, and her passion is history and genealogy.

After earning her law degree, Ellen returned to Southern California to begin practicing law with the law firm of Booth, Mitchel, Strange & Smith where she was a litigator. She specialized in insurance and surety litigation, representing architects and bonding companies. In 1986, Ellen returned to Northern California, joining the San Jose office of the San Francisco-based law firm of Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges (now Thelen, Reid & Priest). There she specialized in construction litigation, representing owners, general contractors, and subcontractors on disputes involving the San Jose Convention Center and San Jose Arena, among other projects. She also specialized in interpretation of insurance contracts, environmental law and some unfair competition cases. Among her clients was the City of Santa Clara's Electric Department, which convinced her to leave the field of litigation to perform transactional work for them in 1997.

Ellen is now a sole practitioner, working closely with the City of Santa Clara's electric utility in the field of fiber optics and electric deregulation.

Gaby Lefebvre attended Post Secondary education at sera-Aquaristik GmbH in Heinsberg, Germany where she obtained her Business Management Certificate. She has over 15 years of business experience working for companies in Europe and Canada. Her responsibilities have included media relations, public relations, product marketing and packaging, managing and developing business partnerships, personnel management, product sales, financial forecasting and reporting, and developing customer relationships.

Gaby has received specialized training in Strategic Selling and Effective Negotiation. She speaks native German and is fluent in English. She has a general understanding of the French language.

Mary Chagnon is a Senior Software Engineer with IBM Corporation and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Engineering from CSU Chico. She has over 17 years experience with IBM including application programming, data analysis, database development and design, product and customer engineering, product marketing, capital planning, IT systems integration and support, and project management.

Mary spent over 5 years volunteering as a youth advisor and working on fundraising campaigns for the South Valley Family YMCA in San Jose, California. She also served for three years on the board of directors for the Emergency Housing Consortium (EHC) of Santa Clara County. During that time she directed and implemented EHC’s first direct marketing fundraising campaign. She also suggested and organized their first volunteer recognition event.

Information provided in Spanish

Alternatives to suspension or expulsion will be used with students who are truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from assigned school activities.

A student may be expelled only by SVCS’s Board of Directors upon the recommendation of a three member Administrative Panel to be empaneled by the Board as needed and will include teachers or retired teachers or administrators from outside the charter school to ensure an unbiased process. The Administrative Panel may recommend expulsion of any student found to have committed an expellable offense(s) listed above in the "Grounds for Suspension and Expulsion."

Except for expulsions for offenses listed under Education Code Section 48915(c), the SVCS Board of Directors may only expel a student upon the findings and recommendations of the Administrative Panel that the student committed the expellable offense and that at least one of the following findings may be substantiated:

Students recommended for expulsion are entitled to a hearing to determine whether the student should be expelled. The hearing shall be held within thirty (30) school days after the Director/Administrator or designee determines that one of the acts listed under "Grounds for Suspension and Expulsion" has occurred.

The hearing will be presided over by the Administrative Panel who will make a recommendation to the Board of Directors. The hearing shall be held in closed session unless the pupil requests a public hearing in writing.

Written notice of the hearing shall be forwarded to the student and the student’s parent/guardian at least ten (10) calendar days before the date of the hearing. The notice shall include:

A record of the hearing shall be made and may be maintained by an means, including electronic recording, as long as a reasonably accurate and complete written transcription of the proceedings can be made.

While technical rules of evidence do not apply to expulsion hearings, evidence may be admitted and used as proof only if it is the kind of evidence on which reasonable persons can rely in the conduct of serious affairs. A recommendation by the Administrative Panel to expel must be supported by substantial evidence that the student committed any of the acts listed in "Grounds for Suspension and Expulsion" above.

Findings of fact shall be based solely on the evidence at the hearing. While no evidence shall be based solely on hearsay, sworn declarations may be admitted as testimony from witnesses of whom the Advisory Council or designee determines that disclosure of their identity or testimony at the hearing may subject them to an unreasonable risk of physical or psychological harm and are exceptions to hearsay.

If, due to a written request by the expelled pupil, the hearing is held at a public meeting, and the charge is committing or attempting to commit a sexual assault or committing a sexual battery as defined in Education Code Section 48900, a complaining witness shall have the right to have his or her testimony heard in a session closed to the public when testifying at a public meeting, as determined by the Advisory Council or designee would threaten serious psychological harm to the complaining witness and there are no alternative procedures to avoid the threatened harm, including, but not limited to, video-taped deposition or contemporaneous examination in another place communicated to the hearing room by means of closed-circuit televisions.

The decision of the Administrative Panel shall be in the form of a written recommendation to the Board of Directors who will make a final determination regarding the expulsion. The final decision by the Board of Directors shall be made within ten (10) school days following the conclusion of the hearing.

The Director/Administrator or designee following a decision of the Board of Directors to expel shall send written notice of the decision to expel to the student or parent/guardian. This notice shall include the following:

The Charter School shall maintain records of all suspensions and expulsions of Charter School pupils. Such records shall be made available for District review upon request.

Expulsion, for purposes of this policy is defined as disenrollment from the Charter School. Pupils who are expelled shall be responsible for seeking alternative education programs including but not limited to programs within their school district of residence.

Students who are expelled from the Charter School shall be given a rehabilitation plan upon expulsion as developed by the Advisory Council and recommended by the Charter School Board of Directors at the time of the expulsion order, which may include, but not be limited to, periodic review as well as assessment at the time of review for readmission. The rehabilitation plan must include a date not later than one year from the date of expulsion when the pupil may reapply to the Charter School for readmission.

The decision to readmit a pupil shall be in the sole discretion of the Charter School Board of Directors following a meeting with the School Director, the pupil and guardian or representative, to determine whether the pupil has successfully completed the rehabilitation plan and, to determine whether the pupil poses a threat to others or will be disruptive to the school environment. The Director/Administrator shall make a recommendation to the Charter School Board of Directors following the meeting regarding his or her determination. The pupil’s readmission is also contingent upon the Charter School’s capacity at the time the student seeks readmission.