Bullis Charter School Asks For Covington in 2013-14

Bullis Charter School is requesting to be sited at Covington School for the 2013-14 school year, citing its projected 29 percent growth and decision to add a fourth strand of kindergarten-to-third grade classes.

"BCS recognizes that current students at the Covington site will either need to be reassigned to another site or apply to BCS, and that some families will not be happy with these options," wrote BCS board member Janet Medlin in the letter that accompanies the annual facilities request, a process mandated by the state. 

The Los Altos School Board will hold a community meeting Monday night to discuss the 2013-14 facilities offer and to solicit comment from the public.

The meeting will be held in the Covington School Multi-purpose Room at 7 p.m. A second meeting will be held on Dec. 3, also in the multi-purpose room.

Representatives of the charter school have been invited to present their perspective of the preliminary facilities offer, but as of last Wednesday, had not heard back.

The event has been closely watched, since the charter school board voted at its meeting last week to grow admission by 20 percent, adding a kindergarten through third grades.

In submitting its space request on Nov. 1, Bullis reported it will have 614 in-district student (total of 644), representing a 29.5% increase 140 more in-district students than currently enrolled, LASD said. As part of the facilities request BCS states that its location preference is the Covington School site.

The Los Altos School Board has asked for the community’s input using these questions as a starting point, which it posted on its website:

Premise

BCS is a school in our community for which LASD is required to determine a facilities solution.

Guiding Questions:

1. How does LASD best accommodate BCS growth? 
2. What should the LASD Board consider when evaluating the impact of sharing arrangements with BCS co-locating on an existing LASD campus?
3. Assuming meeting Prop 39 will require expenditure of District resources, where do we prioritize? 
   1. Providing reasonably equivalent facilities at existing school site on shared basis?
   2. Finding a new, non-District site for BCS?
   3. Reconfiguring district schools to open more space for BCS?
   4.  Is there a less divisive process by which to address facilities issues each year?