Melissa Benitez, 11, arrived at Tuesday night's school board meeting on pins and needles. She tugged her pigtails and squeezed her big eyes shut, trying to block out the growing crowd.

"If I was in the mindframe of texting right now, I'd be like 'ugg....'," she said, rolling her eyes.

Melissa is a sixth grader at KIPP Summit Academy, the San Lorenzo Unified School District's flagship charter. She'd been asked by administrators to speak on behalf of the school, whose charter was up for renewal Tuesday night. Fortunately for Melissa, she was far from alone.

More than 150 KIPP supporters crowded into the San Lorenzo Unified School District's boardroom Tuesday night, overwhelming the normally sedate meeting with a standing-room-only crowd.

"I've been in student government for two years, so I'm used to speaking in front of crowds," she said. "Just not the board of education."

Administrators said they expected a breezy renewal. For years, the charter posted the highest test scores in the district—until KIPP King High School opened next door.

But the crowd—many of them parents of children they hope will be the first in their families to attend college—was there for a tent revival. They'd come to testify.

"I lost my job, I lost my house, and the first thing you think as a parent is, where are my kids going to go to school?" parent Danny Montano told the board. "We were going to move to Houston, move to L.A., but we were going to leave a great school."

The crowd broke into cheers.

"They offered me a job knowing I had lost everything," Montano said. "I am a facilities manager now."

Principal Ric Zappa thanked the district for its continued support of the school, whose inaugural class will graduate from high school this year.

"KSA has always felt part of the SLzUSD family, since its start in 2003," Principal Ric Zappa told the board. "I have never worked with a more dedicated community."

He then read from a letter he had received that morning. It was a handwritten note from a local student named Shapnam who hoped to be accepted to the charter for the coming school year:

My mom explained to me about KIPP school, that you need to win the lottery to be in KIPP school. I don't think I am that lucky to win the lottery, but I wish. I will keep my fingers crossed and I will check  my mail every day to get an answer. Please, please, please help my dream come true. Do you know, Mr. Ric Zappa, that I want to be a doctor? Please don't forget about me.

But not everyone was enthused.

"I was not prepared for this kind of group to come here this evening," said Board President Norman Fobert, who responded at length to the group before the final vote.

"We also have teachers who are passionate, teachers who work very hard," he said of the district. "We have students who chose to learn, and students who chose to call their teachers when they need help, and student who spend extra time at school and are successful and go on to very big-name colleges and universities on scholarship." 

"We turned KIPP's charter down when it first applied here," he said, illiciting gasps of terror from Melissa and her cohort. "I am proud to say that SLzUSD has a KIPP charter school."

Then, he called for the vote. Melissa held her breath.

A moment later, cheers and shouts rang out around the room. The motion had passed unanimously.