CA Charter Schools Association Appoints Two Veteran Los Angeles Educators to Board of Directors; New Members Bring Years of Experience in Creating High-Quality Public School Options to Board.

LOS ANGELES -- The California Charter Schools Association today announced that Los Angeles-based educators Ref Rodriguez, founder of the CALS Charter School, and Irene Sumida, director of the Fenton Avenue Charter School, were appointed to its Governing Board of Directors.

"Ref and Irene both have a solid track record of demonstrating that through high expectations, all students can learn," said Caprice Young, CEO and President of the California Charter Schools Association. "Their experience in solving the challenges of low student achievement by creating high-quality public schools will be invaluable as we continue our focus on positively impacting the broader public school system."

Rodriguez founded CALS, the California Academy for Liberal Studies, in 1999 in the Eagle Rock community of Northeast Los Angeles where he grew up. "On the state standardized tests, our students outscore their counterparts from the local public middle schools in all subjects tested, including math, language arts and reading," said Rodriguez. Since then, Rodriguez co-founded Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), a charter school management organization in Los Angeles. PUC today operates six charter schools serving approximately 1,200 students in the communities of Northeast Los Angeles and the Northeast San Fernando Valley.

"I remain deeply committed to providing choice, innovation and high-quality educational opportunities for all students and in particular those who have been traditionally under-served," said Rodriguez. "I look forward to working with charter schools to continue to grow the movement so that one day all students in California will have equal access to quality in our public schools."

Sumida is the director of Fenton Avenue Charter School, one of the state's first conversion charter schools, located in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. As assistant principal in 1993, Sumida and the school's then-principal, Joe Lucente, led the staff in converting Fenton to a charter school. What began as a school plagued by violence, low morale and single-digit achievement scores became California's thirtieth charter school in 1994 and was named a California Distinguished School in May 1997.

"Being committed to schools and to the charter school movement has been a big part of my life," said Sumida. "The Association is on top of everything in the state with regards to charter schools -- it's incredible. It is a pleasure and an honor to be on the board."

Rodriguez and Sumida were nominated to the Board of Directors by the Association's Member Council, the Association's elected charter school leadership body.

Rodriguez and Sumida join a Board of Directors that consists of Rick Piercy, founder of the Academy for Academic Excellence charter school; Peter Thorp, principal of the San Francisco-based Gateway Charter High School and president of the Board of Directors; Johnathan Williams, co-director of the Los Angeles-based The Accelerated School and member of the state Board of Education; Dr. Richard Atkinson, president Emeritus of the University of California (UC) System; Steve Poizner, a businessman and teacher; Scott Hamilton of the Pisces Foundation; and Caprice Young, CEO of the California Charter Schools Association.

About the California Charter Schools Association

The California Charter Schools Association is the membership and professional organization serving 574 public charter schools serving more than 212,000 charter school students in the state of California. The Association's mission is to improve student achievement by strengthening and expanding high-quality public charter schools throughout California.