Los Altos City Council Wants to Meet with Bullis

The Los Altos City Council wants to explore an informational meeting with the Bullis Charter School board.

Coming at the end of its Tuesday night meeting, the council was discussing key points from the May 29 joint Los Altos School Board and council meeting.

Council members at that time had raised the idea of a larger joint meeting to include the charter school board so they could better understand how to be most helpful in finding a solution to the eight-year dispute over facilities that now may close a district school in order to house the charter school. 

Both Mayor Val Carpenter and Mayor Pro Tempore Jarrett Fishpaw reported on their observations of school board meetings. Carpenter had attended the Los Altos School Board meetng June 4, and Fishpaw had attended the Bullis board.

When Council Member Megan Satterlee expressed concern about engaging that board as both it and the Los Altos School District were in court, Council Member Ron Packard was impatient.

"I say tough luck to the school district; they have pulled us into this. I'm not going to walk on eggshells."

Packard had also suggested exploring the services of an independent education consultant to help the council sort through some of the issues. In talking about the problem with others, Packard said he found the need for an independent analysis.

"Some say you don't need a 10th site. Others say you do. Since this is impacting our city, I think it might be in the best interest of the city to engage an outside consultant, Packard said. "It's impacting our property, it's impacting our residents, it's impacting us."