Basketball star-turned-philanthropist Kevin Johnson kicked offSacramento State Alumni Association’s Breakfast ClubSpeaker’s Series Oct. 21 with a talk on the importance ofstability in education.

Nearly 100 people packed the Sacramento State Alumni Center todiscuss the battles over St. HOPE Corp.’s Sacramento HighSchool charter with the three-time National Basketball AssociationAll-Star.

Johnson, a Sacramento native and alumnus of Sac High, is thepresident of St. HOPE, the non-profit organization that controlsSac High. He spoke for 45 minutes at the free event, fieldingquestions from the audience.

Battles over the legality of Johnson’s non-profit grouptaking control of Sac High have been going on for 10 months. St.HOPE’s initial charter of Sac High was deemed illegal inJune, but the group submitted a second charter in August, which wasapproved.

Sac High opened under the control of St. HOPE on Sept. 2, with1,650 students enrolled in six themed academies.

Johnson, who played 12 seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers andPhoenix Suns, said he wants Sac High to become a place forhard-working students who are serious about their education. Hesaid they will see improvement if they set higher educationalgoals.

“We need to challenge every young person, so when theygraduate, they may not want to go to college, but at least theyhave the choice,” he said.

Only 17 percent of Sac High seniors were eligible for enrollmentat four-year universities last year, Johnson said.

“That sounds like a crisis to me,” he said.

Johnson said one of his main priorities is creating a stableenvironment.

“I went to one elementary school, one middle school, onehigh school, one college and I essentially played my whole NBAcareer for one team,” Johnson said. “I wouldn’thave been able to accomplish the things I have if I hadn’thad a stable environment.”

Johnny O’Neal-Watts, a father of eight children rangingfrom two to 18 years old, raised a concern to Johnson that hischildren wouldn’t all be able to attend Sac High and receivethe same level of education.

Johnson said that although there is already a waiting list forSac High admission, they will attempt to keep families in the sameschool.

“Nobody wants to break up a family,” he said.”We always try to find ways that all brothers and sisters canbe there.”

Patrice Rogers, an opponent of the charter, said St.HOPE’s initial charter was denied because 50 percent of theteaching staff didn’t support the conversion, which ismandated by California education code.

“The St. HOPE Corp. submitted a revised version of thecharter, changing some of the words, but they still do not have theteachers’ signatures,” she said. “The boardallowed them to move back in based on the basis of the changes inthis revision; however, it is still illegal.”

Rogers, the chairperson of Take Back Our Schools, said herorganization is sponsoring a recall effort against the four schoolboard members that gave Sac High to St. HOPE. The four boardmembers 8212; Rob Fong, Rick Jennings, Jay Schenirer and KarenYoung 8212; are facing a court hearing to determine if they actedin contempt of court when approving the second charter petition. Ifthey are found in contempt, the charter could be nullified.

“We feel that the oldest school in this area should havecontinued to have been supported by the district and the board,rather than giving it away,” Rogers said.

The next Breakfast Club event will be held on Dec. 16 with SacState President Alexander Gonzalez. Sacramento County Sheriff LouBlanas will speak on March 9 and News 10 anchor Cristina Mendonsaon May 11.