Bullis Response: Give Us the Preschool Buildings, More Classrooms, Baseball Field at Blach

Bullis Charter School (BCS) has responded to the Los Altos School District's facilities offer with a 19-page letter that reads, in large part, like a legal brief, an 11-page counter-proposal, and a 44-page attachment of the 1998 Los Altos School District Facilities Master Plan.

The response, which was due by state law on March 1, was delivered to the school district via email shortly after 11 p.m. Patch is posting the response without analysis or seeking comment from participating parties due to the weekend, but will provide deeper reportage on Monday.

After a two-month public process, Los Altos School District made a preliminary facilties offer to BCS, as required by Prop. 39 law on Feb. 1. BCS had asked the district in the last week in January to incorporate some specific facilities and configurations in its offer, but the district said it had received the information too late to make changes to the preliminary offer. 

During a special subcommittee meeting between members of BCS and the LASD board on Feb. 13, LASD President Doug Smith had asked the charter school to make specific proposals for use of space and facilities in response to the preliminary offer so that they could be considered for the final offer. Those appear to be contained in the counter-proposal, and primarily address specific requests for facilities at Blach Intermediate School. Inclusion of the LASD Facilities Master Plan was provided to remind LASD of its own standards. 

BCS asked that the Egan facility remain for exclusive use for BCS and additionally allow BCS students access to the Egan city gym.

A few highlights of the counter-proposal for Blach include:

• 200 students at Blach
• A rectangular site configuration
• Moving the Stepping Stones Preschool from its current site to a grassy area adjacent to Blach's main parking lot (or terminating its lease)
• Using the Stepping Stones Preschool rooms for kinder programs, before and after care, a furnished and equipped music room
• Exclusive use of the baseball field during the school day
• A play structure 
• Time to use the city gym, tennis courts, track and soccer fields
• Adding a parking lot along Covington Road at one end of the school's track
• Shared time at various specialized teaching classrooms such as the woodworking room

Under Prop. 39 and its implementing laws, the district has until April 1 to make a final offer and the charter school has until May 1 to accept or reject the offer.