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POLL: Should County Ed Board Come to Los Altos May 22?

Parents asked the county board of education to come to Los Altos last January. Five months later, discussions were restarted and a possible meeting date was resurrected at Eagle Theater.

 

Is it a go? Will it happen?

On Wednesday night, they'll talk about it.

After some starts and stops, a subcommittee of the Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE) has convened and re-identified a date and a location for a forum in Los Altos: May 22, Eagle Theater.

The board will discuss whether that date and that forum can go forward, to Los Altos parents' entreaties for the board to come to the community and engage in dialogue about its role in authorizing the Bullis Charter School and community expectations.

The main difference now is that a tentative long-term agreement has been reached between Bullis Charter School and the Los Altos School District, that has the potential to bring a decade of "litigation peace."

The county school board memo is attached; parties to the discussions about the forum mention that the county board wanted to hold off a such a meeting in April as mediated talks looked like they might bear fruit. When they agreed upon a facilitator, Dick Henning, schedules and venues did not match up until after June. , there was succinctly detailing the past five months' of meetings about holding the forum.

During the May 2 board meeting, Los Altos School District parents told the county school board that that they wanted to meet before school ended, not wait until fall.

Los Altos Patch has posted a copy of that memo, as well as correspondence received after the May 2 meeting. Some of the correspondence refers to testimony made by parents with special needs, and by parents who wrote to express their appreciation for the time spent by the board.

One note is from Mayor Val Carpenter, who advises that in looking for a county representative for appointment to the Bullis Charter School, that citizens from Mountain View, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto and unincorporated Santa Clara County could be considered, since the Los Altos School District boundaries encompass those.

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
mtnview_parent April 12, 2013 at 03:06 am
The only problem with the charter school is that they cause more problem than they solve. TheyRead More want to close Covington, then Blach. So, they don't provide flexibility at all. They keep going to court. This is a case were the remedy is worst than the disease. The original idea is that we have to be creative with the 10th site. Land is scarce, and most likely, we cannot provide the same facility than other school within the district. People are not happy about being moved from their school (with good reason I feel) Solution: provide an inspiring project. May be an immersion program, or a more academic program, or maybe a program to help english learner from K-3. If we don't innovate with a more flexible program, we might just need to redraw the boundaries every 5-7 years. Nobody can foresee the future, but you can build flexibility.
Mitch Caldwell April 11, 2013 at 11:36 pm
Maybe offering a magnet school could help with stability? It can balance out enrollment at otherRead More schools so that attendance boundaries do not have to be redrawn. Isn't the charter school doing that for the LASD district right now?
mtnview_parent April 11, 2013 at 10:36 pm
I saw you had a good discussion on the definition of a neighborhood school. But beyond theRead More definitions, I would like to ask why does palo Alto school District and Cupertino School district have a mix of neighborhood school and some choice school. Those are two high performing district right next to us. Can a choice school be an excellent way to stop the highly disruptive attendance boundary change ? People say I am for statu quo, that I am against change. I feel that family and children need stability, that is why we don't change spouse at the pace the BoT change the attendance boundary. People who want some stability at home (and their school) do make a reasonable request.
Karen Janowski April 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm
And you can join the Drive Less Challenge that starts today and runs for the next two weeks. JoinRead More any time during the 2-week period. Check it out at www.DriveLessChallengeLA.com. Try out some alternative transportation, like bicycling or walking (or even carpooling with other families) with your kids to school, bike to the grocery store for those one or two items or walk to the local coffee shop instead of driving. Take the train on a weekend adventure to San Francisco or light rail to San Jose. It's a good opportunity to try something you might not have done before. Have fun with it!