Schools

Poll: Should Parents Get Standing In School Dispute?

What do you think of the efforts of members of the Los Altos School District community who are asking a court to give it standing and allow it to file a friend of the court brief?

 

On Monday, a new development appeared in the Bullis Charter School - Los Altos School District dispute over the allocation of space. 

Concerned that the district was giving up more than its fair share of space to the charter school—and to the detriment of the district's students—a non-profit group called the , or amicus curiae. 

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The group filed a friend-of-the-court brief contending that Bullis Charter School was, by its practices, not operating as a public school and not entitled to a share of public school facilities under Proposition 39.

It contended that special needs, Engish language learners, socio-economically disadvantaged students and Hispanic students would be adversely affected by a proposed order sought by Bullis Charter School (BCS). The first proposal was to compel the LASD to negotiate with BCS to provide it more space on Egan Jr. High School in 2012-13 than it had offered. In 2013-14 the proposal was to order LASD to clear one of four campuses and give it to BCS to use.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The group contends that LASD was over-acquiescent to BCS demands in efforts to avoid further litigation, and in the process, district students were being given less consideration while BCS students were being given preference. Because of this dynamic, the group seeks to pursuade the court that these parents' concerns are not represented in the equation.  

Superior Court Judge Patricia Lucas, who is set on Aug. 15 to hear BCS motion to compel LASD to comply with Prop. 39, is expected to rule on the Huttlinger Alliance for Education's application standing.

What do you think should happen?

Vote, an elaborate in the comments section, below. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here