Science on the Green!
Los Altos Rising Scientists Mixer
Los Altos Downtown Green – Saturday, August 17 @ 2-4PM
The Los Altos Downtown Green Committee and local residents will host the first ever Los Altos Science on the Green Event! The event will be an informal science fair where your 4-8 year old can come with a poster board size drawing/description of any science topic he/she would like to share with the community.
Examples could include: why is the world round, why do plants grow, why is the sun so bright, etc. The goals are to get kids to come out to the Los Altos Green, to talk and learn more about science, to introduce young families to one another and for folks just to enjoy the afternoon and have fun!
The Los Altos School District STEM, Living Classroom and Art Docent programs will host hands-on science project booths integrating art, science and engineering for children and adults to explore.
Please bring your youngsters to come enjoy the event! Although preparing a topic to discuss is recommended, it is not required. Here are the details:
Science on the Green!
Saturday, August 17 @ 2-4PM
Los Altos Downtown Green
(on 3rd St. between Main and State)
State Test Results Will Be Digital This Year
Individual reports of students' CAASPP results will be available electronically. Read more.
Under California's local control funding scheme, all school districts are required to complete a Local Control & Accountability Plan (LCAP) that represents their spending plans on services for students including identified sub groups of students. The LCAP was adopted by the district's Board of Trustees on June 10, 2019.
Please click here to view the approved LCAP.
Thank you to all of you who participated in our first annual LASD communications survey. We appreciate your feedback! We are thrilled that the results of the survey were very positive and comments were helpful to ensure that we continue to improve.
For the full presentation to the Board of the survey results, please click here.
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