The Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District plans to further discuss and possibly take action in the next couple of weeks on a petition to create a charter school in the Lake Don Pedro area.

No action could be taken at their June 2 meeting because a memorandum of understanding had not yet been completed.

However, a number of Don Pedro residents spoke out at that meeting during a public hearing about the proposal to create a K-12 charter school at the Don Pedro High School campus, which the BOFGUSD has been planning to close.

Kim Medeiros, who has children at DPHS, told the board, “I can tell you that this will have a huge impact.”

Medeiros, who is a real estate agent, said she has been selling quite a few bank-owned homes. She said she has had to disclose the information that DPHS is closing and that high school students have to travel several hours by bus daily.

Having the local charter school “would be a big benefit” to both parents and the local real estate market, she said.

Dwight Mueller, who heads the Golden Lakes Charter School board, told the BOFGUSD trustees that “The people of Don Pedro have never had a cohesive educational community.” However, with the prospect of opening a charter school, he added, “we’re on the precipice of that.”

His wife, Paula Mueller, spoke about the impact having a local charter would have on her family, since they have a daughter graduating from the eighth grade this year. “I want her close (next year),” she said. “I don’t want her on a bus. I don’t care if they say it’s safe; I don’t think it is.”

She added that the charter proposal “is the most exciting thing we’ve ever seen. We really believe in it 100 percent.”

Donna Stensland, another district parent, made an impassioned plea for the Groveland board to approve the charter. She tearfully spoke of her teenage daughter, who was so discouraged by the lack of educational choices in Don Pedro that she dropped out, got married and went to work for a fast-food restaurant.

Stensland added that her son has struggled without having a local high school to attend and he is now planning to enlist in the army. “I don’t want him to think that’s the only opportunity,” she told the trustees.

Mike King, interim superintendent at the Big Oak Flat- Groveland district, told the crowd that the board and administration feel the charter petition would be a good thing for the students and community.

“We have a positive feeling toward the charter, for all sorts of reasons,” King said. “But we have to look at (the document) carefully, because it has to be right.”

Jerry Simmons, an attorney specializing in charter school law, commended the BOFGUSD for their cooperation in moving along the charter application process. “Your willingness to act quickly maximizes the chances of getting (Golden Lakes Charter School) up and running this year,” Simmons said.