Oasis Charter Public School faces increasing scrutiny with two ongoing investigations.

The Alisal Union School District is currently investigating 21 complaints concerning Oasis Charter Public School. AUSD is the chartering district for the school, and in that role ensures Oasis remains compliant with its charter.

The complaints touch on a number of issues. They range from alleged violations of California public-meetings rules to a shortage of credentialed teachers – and a lack of clarity and transparency for parents filing complaints against the school.

The 21 complaints were compiled into a letter sent from Associate Superintendent James Koenig to Oasis Executive Director Juanita Perea on Dec. 13, 2017.

“We have never seen anything like this,” Koenig says. He adds that in the past, the district received very few complaints from Oasis parents, one or two a year. But this series of investigations could change how Oasis is currently run, who it’s governed by, and even possibly lead to the revocation of the school’s charter.

Oasis has until the end of February to reply to AUSD’s letter.

Andrew Sandoval, a parent of four Oasis students, says he became concerned when he noticed high teacher turnover and his kids’ faltering academic performance. It was after administrators improperly proctored the state’s required Smarter Balanced assessments in the 2015-16 school year – meaning no test scores were produced for Oasis – that Sandoval started talking to other parents and discovered others shared his concerns.

“Parents are leaving over this,” he says. He says of 10 moms who rallied alongside him, only three still have their kids enrolled at Oasis.

Sandoval believes Perea has personally benefited from school business. In one instance, he alleges Perea’s husband, Paulino Jimenez, was paid to do garden and maintenance work on Oasis grounds from 2012-14 and again from 2016-17.

This, Sandoval thinks, runs counter to the school’s anti-nepotism policy: “As I see it, she’s getting paid twice because it’s her husband doing the work.”

The gardening allegation was enough for the California Fair Political Practices Commission to open an investigation on Oct. 23 – one day before the anti-nepotism policy was adopted by the board.

FPPC spokesperson Jay Wierenga declines to comment on the active investigation. Oasis officials did not return multiple requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the investigations are dividing parents into two camps.

Claudia Herrera, a parent of two Oasis students, says she’s had a positive experience, and that Perea dedicated time to personalizing her child’s academic plan.

She adds that she sees Perea – “a Latina with a PhD” – as a rarity, making her someone to look up to, not to fear.