BCS and LASD Approve 2-Year Facilities Agreement
Another Step Towards a Long-Term Plan
On Thursday, May 9, Bullis Charter School (BCS) and the Los Altos School District (LASD) executed a two-year facilities agreement, taking a step towards a long-term facilities agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, LASD will provide BCS with guaranteed facilities for two years, thereby avoiding the time-consuming Proposition 39 facilities allocation process. Both groups concur that the agreement will ensure all students continue to receive an excellent educational experience.
Click here to read the full press release and approved two-year facilities agreement.
Dear Los Altos School District Parents,
The Los Altos School District (LASD) continues to work hard toward negotiating a multi-year facilities agreement with Bullis Charter School (BCS) to benefit all of our students and the community. We have made great strides towards this goal, by bringing forward a proposed 10-year agreement for the community’s feedback and input. While this was a great step forward, the LASD Board believes that community engagement and full transparency must come before approving any long term agreement.
In good faith and in another step toward a long term agreement, the Board and I have submitted to BCS a signed 2-year interim agreement that would keep BCS at Egan and Blach with an enrollment cap of 1,111 students.
The community made it clear they must be engaged and heard on any proposal for a long term facilities solution. By enacting the 2-year interim agreement, which includes terms previously agreed upon by both parties, LASD and BCS will have the opportunity to collaborate and engage the community around a long term plan to end our 15-year long dispute over facilities and focus all of our energy on academic excellence for all children. Furthermore, a 2-year agreement allows LASD, BCS and the entire community to focus on the full community engagement process without the disruption of the divisive Proposition 39 process.
While BCS decides whether or not to sign the 2-year interim agreement, their board opted to move forward in parallel with the Proposition 39 process and submitted a response to the LASD facilities offer for the 2019-20 school year. If BCS does not sign the 2-year interim agreement, LASD and BCS will be forced back into the annual Proposition 39 process, which, among other things, does not enforce an enrollment cap. Under Proposition 39, LASD would need to make difficult choices to house BCS students next year and into the future, with the knowledge that they could grow annually and indefinitely.
The LASD Board has requested that BCS sign the 2-year agreement by the close of business on May 9, 2019. If we do not receive the BCS Board approved and executed agreement by that time, LASD will move forward with the Proposition 39 process and issue a final offer to BCS. We are hopeful that we can agree on the 2-year interim plan and begin immediately to plan our public engagement process to achieve a long term solution to house BCS.
As always, the Board thanks you for your partnership and appreciates your thoughts. Please contact us at trustees@lasdschools.org with your comments, questions and ideas.
Sincerely,
Jessica Speiser
President, Los Altos School District Board of Trustees
Dear Los Altos School District Parents,
Last night the Los Altos School District (LASD) Board voted unanimously to approve a 2-year interim agreement for facilities with Bullis Charter School (BCS). The Board also tabled (decided not to vote on) the Proposed 10-Year Agreement until a public engagement process is concluded. The interim agreement houses the charter school at its current locations at Blach and Egan junior high schools with an enrollment cap at 1,111 students. We hope the BCS Board will approve the 2-year interim agreement so we can move another step forward together to achieve long term facilities stability and peace in our community outside of the Proposition 39 process.
As you know, LASD and BCS have been working for over a year to negotiate a long term agreement to avoid the historically contentious Proposition 39 process, which is the California law that governs facilities allocation to charter schools. Through mediation, members of each of the boards reached a proposed 10-year agreement that would, in the long term, relocate the Egan school community to a brand new school in Mountain View and provide 16 acres of the current Egan campus to BCS.
To be clear, our vote last night was not a rejection of the proposed 10-year agreement. Rather, after weeks of Board Office Hours, school site forums, Board meetings, and hundreds of emails, we understand that the community needs more time and more information to be able to support a long term solution. As such, the LASD Board found it critical to approve a shorter 2-year interim agreement to allow the community the time and information they need. The 2-year agreement implements the first 2 years of the proposed 10-year agreement.
We believe that a 2-year agreement makes sense for both LASD and BCS so that we are not forced back into Proposition 39 before we complete a full community engagement process on the 10-year agreement. Without the 2-year agreement, Proposition 39 would begin again November 1, 2019. Proposition 39 consumes an entire year of staff time for both LASD and BCS, and has been historically contentious and litigious for our community.
In addition to our vote, the Board gave staff direction to present a plan for an inclusive community engagement effort to be conducted in the fall. As stated in my prior letter to you, I envision that the engagement process will involve members of both the BCS and LASD boards and will include a representative cross section of the community. This process must begin as soon as possible and end no later than January 2020 so that our community can go back to focusing on what we all care about: excellent education for all of our children.
The Board of Trustees must make all of its decisions based on what is in the best interest of all students and their education and must strive to create a plan that is best for the entire community. This is an amazing opportunity to work together to envision and create the educational future for all of our community’s children.
As I said in my last update, our excellent public schools benefit every resident of the district, whether they send their children to BCS or LASD and whether or not they have school-aged children. BCS and LASD must continue to partner with our community to ensure we protect academic excellence for all students.
The Board thanks you for your partnership and appreciates your thoughts. Please contact us at trustees@lasdschools.org with your comments, questions and ideas.
Sincerely,
Jessica Speiser
President, Los Altos School District Board of Trustees
Dear Los Altos School District Community,
As you know, within the last year, the Bullis Charter School (BCS) unilaterally increased its enrollment by nearly 25%, or 220 in-district students. Because Los Altos School District is required by law to provide facilities to in-district charter students, BCS’s unilateral action raises considerable challenges to accommodate its sudden growth for the next school year and beyond.
To try to address those challenges, negotiating teams from LASD and BCS met in multiple confidential mediation sessions to discuss proposals for a long term facilities agreement. Throughout such negotiations LASD made it clear that any proposal the mediation teams negotiated behind closed doors needs to be fully aired in public with the community to determine whether there was community support, and that this public process would need to occur before LASD’s board voted whether to approve any agreement. This mediation process yielded a proposal for a 10-year agreement that the Board is considering. For more information on this proposed agreement, click here.
The Board of Trustees and I firmly believe that your voices and opinions are essential when it comes to an issue of intense community interest such as this. As publicly elected officials committed to making a decision that benefits our community as a whole, we have appreciated each and every one of the many comments, questions and ideas we have received to date.
I learned yesterday evening that the BCS Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve the proposed 10-year agreement. While BCS moved quickly to a vote before the community could be fully heard, LASD’s Board will complete its scheduled public input process that it values tremendously and deems essential before it votes on the proposed agreement.
Click here for dates of remaining school site forums, Board Office Hours and Board meetings. We have scheduled two more Board meetings to receive feedback on the agreement, one which will be held tomorrow evening, Thursday, April 25 at 7pm. The other meeting will take place on Monday, April 29 at 7pm, in which the Board plans to receive feedback and vote on the proposed agreement. Both meetings will be held at the District Office.
As always, you may also email the Board of Trustees at trustees@lasdschools.org with any thoughts, questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jessica Speiser
President, Los Altos School District Board of Trustees
You have likely heard about the proposed long term agreement with Bullis Charter School. To ensure a transparent and robust public input process, the District is hosting a series of opportunities where we invite you to share your thoughts and opinions with us in advance of a Board vote. Any plan requires a process to envision building a successful educational future for our students, and our school district would like you to be part of that process.
After nearly 15 years of disputes, the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees will review a proposal for a long term agreement with Bullis Charter School at its April 8 Board meeting at 7:00pm at the District Office.
The proposed agreement arose from a mediation process, in which two members of the Los Altos Board of Trustees and three of the Bullis Charter School board members met over the course of several months. The proposal will now be shared publicly, offering an opportunity for public input and a transparent community conversation before both boards vote on the proposal.
With extremely complex circumstances and limitations on public school districts due to existing California charter school law, no solution to the problem could be achieved without difficult compromises on both sides.
The broad parameters of the proposal are as follows:
- By no sooner than 2023, BCS would have exclusive use of 16 of the 18.83 acres that comprise the Egan Junior High Campus.
- LASD would preserve 2.83 acres of the Egan campus for affordable teacher housing
- Bullis Charter School would cap its enrollment at 1,111 students, roughly equivalent to its projected enrollment for the 2019-20 school year.
- LASD would construct a new Egan Campus at the new 10th school site located at the Kohl’s Shopping Center site in Mountain View, which we will acquire this year. The new school would open for the 2023-24 school year, at the earliest.
- Until the new Egan Junior High is constructed, Bullis Charter School would stay at its current locations at Egan Junior High and Blach Intermediate, and would not expand to Loyola or any additional LASD campuses.
- The proposed agreement would be in place for at least 10 years and end the divisive Prop. 39 process that resulted in millions of dollars spent on lawsuits and disputes with BCS.
Potential benefits to the proposed agreement for LASD include:
- No shared campuses and no divided schools: 10 schools on 10 sites
- Protection of LASD’s award-winning neighborhood school model
- No additional campuses impacted
- Stops unchecked BCS enrollment growth with a cap at 2019-20 levels
- A 10-year agreement between LASD and BCS, which would end the Prop. 39 process that resulted in disputes and costly lawsuits
- A cost-effective plan to acquire a new Egan campus, with over $100 million in funding from local developers and the City of Mountain View
At Monday night’s meeting, the Board and the community will have the opportunity to review the proposal from the mediation team, as well as ask questions and provide feedback. Additionally, the LASD mediation team members and Superintendent Baier will visit all schools to hear from parents and staff to ensure that our community’s voice is heard through this process.
We hope to achieve a long term agreement that both boards would vote to ratify after a transparent and thorough public input process. Any final plan would require a process to envision building a successful educational future for our students and we invite our community to be part of that process.
To review the proposed agreement in full, please click here. Click here for the presentation that will be shared on April 8, which includes dates for upcoming meetings at school sites, where public input is encouraged and appreciated. The public may also share their views with the Board of Trustees by emailing trustees@lasdschools.org. To view a history of facilities sharing with BCS here.
The Los Altos School District believes the most important part of any agreement is that our children continue to receive the excellent education our teachers and academic programs provide. We hope our community will come together to share concerns, ask questions and provide input on this proposal to reach an agreement that provides stability and certainty into the future so all children continue to excel.
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After School Mandarin Immersion Program Enrollment for 2019-20 Begins
Due to growing demand and an interest in expanding the program for local students, LACS launched a partnership with the Los Altos School District (LASD) to relocate from its former home at the Hillview Community Center in Los Altos to all seven of the district's elementary schools.
Enrollment for the 2019-20 Los Altos Chinese School After School Mandarin Immersion program will be open on a first come, first served basis until May 3, 2019. Los Altos School District students receive enrollment priority.
We’re thrilled about adding this top-quality program to our array of after school options for our students and parents. Children not only learn to speak, read and write Mandarin, but they also participate in engaging activities like music and art, which supports the whole child and their academic success,” said Jeffrey Baier, Los Altos School District Superintendent.
We are so proud to partner with the best schools in our area to make our successful Mandarin immersion program more accessible to local children. We promote children’s educational success through our passion for teaching and commitment to building our students’ confidence through creative activities and enrichment courses. That is why our students excel in Mandarin in our local high schools,” said Jane Bai, Principal of the Los Altos Chinese School.
By relocating the program to each elementary school in LASD, the Chinese school also eliminates the need for transportation. Now, students leave their classroom at the end of the school day—even on short days—and go directly to the LACS classroom at their elementary school. The immersion program ends at 6pm, 5 days per week, offering a great after school learning opportunity.
The program has already started operating at Almond Elementary, where Principal Raquel Matteroli explains it is a huge success. “Current LACS students and parents are thrilled. There is a lot of buzz among our students, who I overhear frequently telling friends what they’re learning at LACS and how much fun they have in the program,” Mrs. Matteroli said.
For more information about enrollment and tuition, please visit Los Altos Chinese School at http://www.losaltoschinese.school/.