Bullis Chairman Calls LASD Offer 'Arrogant,' 'Defiant'

Think the wrangling over space for was going to get easier this year? Think again.

The Bullis Charter School (BCS) board reacted angrily on Sunday to a draft proposal the Los Altos School Board is preparing that would split the school into two campuses.

“This is an arrogant, defiant offer from LASD Trustees that brazenly ignores the law," said Ken Moore, chairman of the BCS board, in a written statement. "It is the worst preliminary offer BCS has ever received.”

Less than two weeks ago, the state Supreme Court let in favor of of the charter school, saying that the district failed in providing “reasonably equivalent” facilities for the school.

The LASD board of trustees will be discussing the draft proposal of its offer Monday night in a must-vote situation to meet a Feb. 1 state requirement. Host school districts are required to make a preliminary offer to charter schools by that date for the 2012-13 facilities offer on that date. 

The current proposal would split the Bullis Charter School between two campuses. The K-6 grades will remain at where the school is currently located, and the 7-8 graders would attend . BCS wants to be housed on one campus, and prefers the Gardner Bullis School site in Los Altos Hills, or any ten-acre campus in the district according to its website.

To be sure, the school board didn't have great options in the short term, and a certain amount of pain. Some parents were worried that major—and sudden—dislocation was about to be felt.

A number of parents whose children attend district schools were becoming increasingly anxious that Gardener Bullis, or another school would be shut down in order to offer it to BCS. 

But that fear was largely allayed for the 2012-13 school year.

“We will not be examining closing or changing any boundaries for our current high-performing schools as their continued excellence is our primary responsibility,” said Mark Goines, LASD board president.  

“We can meet the requirements of Prop. 39 by keeping BCS at Egan for K-6 (grades) and sharing Blach for 7-8.  This allows us to provide BCS more classroom space than required at each grade level.”

Monday night's trustees meeting will be moved from the district's usual meeting toom to the Covington School multipurpose room. The district and board expect a large group of speakers, according to Goines.

Parents have been following the situation between BCS and the Los Altos School District (LASD) for the last eight years, according to Michelle Sturiale, a parent of children at Santa Rita Elementary School and the founder of grassroots group LASD Voices, a volunteer group of district parents and community members.

“LASD and BCS parents will be pleased with this offer because it does not involve closing one of the high-performing neighborhood Los Altos schools,” said Sturiale. “It preserves the small school size at each site and helps maintain the strong community environment that we enjoy in Los Altos.”

But others are worried the battle between the two will continue. BCS and LASD were involved in litigation for almost the entirety of the last eight years. The latest battle ended just weeks ago when the state Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal.

“I was disappointed because the preliminary offer is not a step on the path to resolving an issue that has consumed too many resources of both LASD and BCS. I expect BCS will sue, again, and for this to drag on, for yet another year, with no end in sight, said and a new member of Citizen’s Advisory Committee for Finance (CACF).  "Perhaps it's time for binding arbitration.” 

Unhappy BCS board members didn't say that Sunday, but made it clear that they didn't feel the school district had complied with Prop. 39, the 2000 law on which charter school regulations are based, and failed to comply with the order from the state's Sixth District Court of Appeal.

“We had hoped the 2012-13 facilities offer put forth by LASD would be a step towards healing the community,” said Anne Marie Gallagher, a BCS board member, also in a written statement.

"The longer LASD Trustees refuse to listen, the longer this will fester in the community and the longer public school students served by both BCS and LASD will suffer," Gallagher said.

Gallagher said BCS anticipates about 500 district students to be at its school and says that this offer gives them half the campus size and one-third the teaching space district schools hold. She also added that all of their charter school’s buildings are portables, not permanent buildings.

Sturiale said the LASD Voices parents and others will speak out Monday night about the strong need for a long-term BCS location, the need to preserve the small neighborhood schools model, the concern that if LASD closes a school in the future to accommodate BCS that it will cause great separation in the community, and more.

One of the key components of this process and discussion is that the district has been looking for a long-term solution and location for BCS. CACF, which assists the district in its long-term financial planning, met at the beginning of the school year . CACF did not entertain a split-campus solution at the two junior high schools because it was focusing on long-term locations, not a year-to-year solution. 

Goines acknowledged the Egan/Blach offer is a temporary one.

“We are hoping for a long-term solution that is mutually agreed upon," Goines said. "Ideally that is a new location we can find together, which we will discuss with BCS in the coming months.” 

After the district presents it preliminary written offer on February 1, the BCS has until March 1 to respond to the preliminary proposal.

The Los Altos School Board will meet at 6 p.m. in the district's board room at 201 Covington Road for a training session. After a short break, it will reconvene about 8 p.m. in the multipurpose room of Covington School, just adjacent to district headquarters. 

Editor's note: This story was changed Jan. 31 to reflect the correct title of Ken Moore as BCS board chairman.