By Magaly Muñoz

After two years of fighting for their plans, members of the Vallejo City Council by a 6-1 vote, approved an appeal that overturned the Planning Commission’s decision to allow ELITE Public Schools charter to expand into downtown Vallejo.

ELITE Public Schools had submitted an application in July 2022 for a Major Use Permit to convert a vacant office building into a high school that would accommodate 400 students plus staff. Opposition to the reconstruction soon began from members of the community.

The primary opposers to the project were former Solano County judge Paul Beeman and his wife Donna. The couple, whose office sits next to the vacant office building, argued that the arrival of 400 high school students would cause a disturbance to the area and did not follow the economic revitalization guidelines for downtown Vallejo.

The Beemans attempted to rally the support of other business owners and the Vallejo Central Core Restoration Corporation (CCRC) against the proposed expansion. While several residents agreed that the school was not needed, the CCRC voted to not involve themselves in the developments of the plan as a collective.

The Planning Commission had initially approved the Major Use Permit in March, but it was quickly appealed by the Beemans 10 days later.

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Members of ELITE claimed that the opposition to their proposed plan was racially motivated since the majority of the students are Black and Brown kids. In one instance, that observation was not far off, particularly when a local business owner blamed the rise in crime in the community on Black people.

The sour taste of that response carried on into the rest of the proceedings and comments made in the council meetings.

Despite the opposition from community members, ELITE students and families held steady in their fight to advocate for their school. They attended every meeting, no matter how late the discussions ran, even if it meant staying up into the middle of the night on a school day.

Students shared stories about how ELITE has pushed them to do better in their academics, how to be leaders, and set goals for themselves that they didn’t know were achievable for them before joining ELITE.

Despite the obvious support and reports from city staff that showed that the school followed all guidelines and regulations, the city council voted to not grant the Major Use Permit on grounds that there was no sufficient evidence to prove that this expansion was a good fit for Vallejo.

Councilmember Charles Palmares cast the only dissenting vote to allow the appeal and overturn the decision to grant the permit. Palmares did not respond for comment at the time of publication.

But the fight for ELITE might not be over yet.

Eric Schaffer, attorney for the owner of the vacant building where ELITE wanted to expand into, spoke at the Tuesday meeting, stating that they are considering legal action to appeal the city council’s decision.

Schaffer said his client wants the project to go through and the council has no basis to deny the permit. He also insinuated that the reason why the project isn’t going through is due to Mr. Beeman’s prominence in the community and that the council is being swayed by this influence.

“[Mr. Beeman] is not the decider today, the council is,” Schaffer said.

Similar claims have been made by other members of the community throughout the process of fighting for the Major Use Permit.

Schaffer said they did not want to go through the lengthy and expensive process of a legal battle but they would do so in order to address the conflict of interest on the council and other rights violated by the decision.

Schaffer did not respond for comment at the time of publication.

Dr. Ramona Bishop, founder of ELITE, has previously stated how disappointed she was in the actions of the community and the council for not allowing them to expand into the downtown area. When asked for a comment on the final decision from the city, Bishop said her lawyers would be handling the situation moving forward.

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