November 9, 2012 Alameda County Board of Education 313 West Winton Avenue Hayward, CA 94544 Dear Trustees, My name

is Reanna Goucher and my daughter, Alise attends Junction Ave K-8 School and is part of their Spanish/English Dual Immersion program. I am writing to you today to ask that your committee please deny the charter petition from Tri-Valley Learning Corporation to open Portola Academy. My daughter did not always go to Junction Ave K-8 School. Since I had gone to private school for all of my elementary, Jr High and some of my high school years, I really thought private was the way to go. I was a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" and since I was paying a lot of money for Alise's education and she being a bright, smart girl, I thought she is really getting the best education out there. Until I heard about Junction's Dual Immersion program (DI), at which point all my previous thoughts went out the window and I decided free, public education had more to offer Alise than private school did. I am so happy that I decided to switch her even if it was in the middle of 2nd grade. So when Alise's started at Junction she knew some Spanish but not anything more than what Sesame Street taught her and we (my family and all the staff at Junction K-8) as a team decided to give it our all and never give up even when it got hard, which it did. My daughter takes the State Star Test every spring and for the last 3 years her score continues to improve. From a score of 404 in English-Language Arts in 2010 to a score of 459 in 2012, which is advance and a score of 328 in Mathematics in 2010 to a score of 378 in 2012, which is proficient. Both scores are well above the state minimum standards and she did this all while literally spending 1/2 a year in her non-native language! I am so proud of her I could just burst! Results like this go against what every critic thinks they know about Dual Immersion and the fact that Alise hasn't been in the DI program since Kindergarten makes it even more exciting. This in not a school or a district that is failing their students or the community in which they serve. Livermore Joint Unified School District cares about every student that attends any of there schools. Their goal is to make sure every student is ready for the real world after high school and they work very hard with parents, teachers and administrators to make sure this happens.

We are all on the same team. This shows in everything they do, including being an open enrollment district. Junction Ave K-8 School is not our neighborhood school and when we asked for a transfer, it was very easy to get and approved immediately. This means every parent in the entire district can enroll their student in the school of their choice. The TVLC is not offering anything that the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District is not already offering, including choice; the parents of Livermore students already have this if they choose to take advantage of it. They are not thinking outside of the box to reach the demographics they say they need, something I expect a charter school to do. For example, they can show us they really care about the socio-disadvantaged population of Livermore by addressing one of the major concerns of this population which is transportation. Why dont they hire a bus company and offer a pick up and drop off service to their current campus. This would speak volumes to our community. Instead they are trying to duplicate a Spanish dual immersion program that already exists within blocks of the current Spanish dual immersion campus. The Livermore School district is not failing their students or the Community, and our test scores prove this. In fact, I would argue that even in this hard economic climate, the Livermore School District is coming up with more creative ways to make sure our students thrive. That is not an easy task. I urge you to look at the facts and deny the TVLC their petition to open yet another charter school in a community that does not need nor do we want one. Thank you. Sincerely,

Reanna Goucher 985 Essex St Livemore, CA 94550 (925) 548-6850