Schools

"We Fully Intend to Unlock our School"

Los Altos School District hands over the keys to Bullis Charter School—with conditions. Bullis remains defiant.


Written by Bea Karnes

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees began an emotionally charged meeting Monday night by announcing that they were turning over the keys to Bullis Charter School—but the keys also unlocked conditions.

In a letter accompanying the keys, signed by Board President Doug Smith, the Board stipulated, “BCS is not authorized to use the offered facilities unless it first executes and returns the enclosed copy of the Facilities Use Agreement (“FUA”), which the District has executed. There will be no more negotiations relating to the FUA prior to BCS’s execution of it (although, as the District has stated, it will entertain good faith negotiations after execution). If BCS uses the facilities without first executing the FUA, its use of the facilities shall be deemed, at the District’s sole discretion, either an agreement to the FUA’s terms, or a breach of the terms on which facilities use was expressly offered and preconditioned, with all remedies flowing therefrom available to the District.”

Keys in hand, Bullis remains defiant.

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“We fully intend to unlock our school,” said Ken Moore, Chairman of Bullis Charter School. “Our teachers need to get their classrooms ready for the upcoming school year. We disagree with select elements of the FUA and have repeatedly tried to discuss it in good faith with the District. It’s clear that the District plans to use the unsigned FUA as its basis for finding us in violation of its imposed restrictions. It’s evident that the District intends to take us to court simply for daring to serve all our enrolled students and implementing our teacher-designed educational program. We’re saddened by the District’s increasingly hostile and incredulous behavior.”

The two sides have been battling over the proposed FUA for months. The District contends that the Blach Campus is not designed for young students, while Bullis wants to move students of all ages between the campuses.

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When Bullis did not sign the FUA by a long-stated deadline, the District changed the locks on the school, insisting that Bullis sign the agreement before occupying the school.

The enmity between the two sides goes much deeper. Parents who side with the school district believe that Bullis is run by an organization that is forwarding a charter school agenda that has little to do with the District or its decisions. They feel that the ultimate goal of Bullis is to force the district to sign-over ownership of a Los Altos school property to the charter school.

Meanwhile, parents who support Bullis believe that LASD illegally locked-out their teachers, and that the District has taken a heavy-handed approach to the FUA that is standing in the way of their children’s education.

The two sides have gone to court multiple times over a string of issues. The FUA could be the next source of litigation.


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