Congratulations to Mr. Smith and to Mr. Goines for making the correct decision. I wish that Ms. Logan would do the same. It's time to heal.

Congratulations on a well-deserved rest. Thank you for vanquishing the abusive charter school and forcing them to accept a five year cease-fire. It's sad that it took so long, but the courts can only move so quickly.

We'll need to be careful that the Bullis bullies do not attempt to co-opt the board for their own nefarious purposes. Pay attention to this election cycle folks!

Ms. Logan said she favors building a campus for the charter school. Watch out. Better get rid of her too.

The only solution is to merge the Los Altos School District in with the Mountain View Whisman School District. The key issue raised by all the nit pickers of the charter school was that the charter school didn't have its 'fair share' of the low income kids in Los Altos. Good luck finding any. On the other hand, with 1/2 the students in MVWSD being low income, there would be plenty to go around. The charter school is no "richer' than Los Altos as a whole. The key thing is to get a fair mix of the entire students who feed into MVLA. A merger is the answer.

@Voter - totally agree. Would be great if Tammy stepped aside but since she didn't, I'd rather see Steve Taglio and Pablo Luther be joined by Sangeeth, Martha and either Vladimir or John. Having a Covington, a BCS and 1 other constituency represented would be desirable. We don't need career politicians continuing to mismanage education in our community. We need to pay attention this election cycle because they are the folks who are going to spend our $150M.

I think the current board generally did a great job in very, very difficult circumstances. They've absolutely left the district in better shape than the found it. Which for one of the top districts in the state is quite an accomplishment. Getting some new blood, and new ideas on the board will help continue the trend of continued improvement and innovation by LASD. Tammy, Vladimir and Sangeeth are all strong candidates and will be outsanding stewards of the LASD legacy of excellence and of the bond funds the voters will almost certainly approve. McClatchie and Swan however, have no place on the board of a public school district. Their hugely partisan opposition to LASD, and their clear disdain for local democracy should disqualify them from consideration by the voters. Their candidacies are nothing more than a flagrant attempt by BCS to gain stronger influence over LASD. Does anyone actually believe that McClatchie and Swan wouldn't simply be puppets for people like Francis LaPoll and the BCS board?

No Vlad.

You know what really bothers me about Mr. Ivanovic? He recently wrote a tribute in a public facebook group to the worst BCS antagonist, thanking (him or her?) for their efforts. Those efforts included some really nasty things including a fake BCS website , a robot animation video portraying BCS parents as Nazis and vicious daily attacks on the BCS community. These attacks made life in Los Altos unpleasant for everyone, not just BCS parents.

Anyone who would go out of their way to thank this person is not a clear thinking individual. Either Mr. Ivanovic has very poor judgement, [portion removed]. It doesn't matter, either way, he shouldn't be a member of the board of trustees.

Oh, so let's just vote for people who are strong BCS supporters and wish to see LASD disrupt high performing schools to accommodate the charter schools desire for a single unified campus? No thank you!

@ Uh?

By all means vote for your guy Vlad. That's what democracy is all about. I will not be voting for Vlad, we need someone who makes better decisions. We need BOT's that think of children first, regardless of the program that they attend, that's their job. Someone who pens a glowing tribute to a clearly divisive, mean spirited, gutless anonymous agitator is not putting children first. Do not vote for Vlad.

@Voter -- First, there is zero evidence that either the bullischarterscam.com website, or the videos you reference were created by the "Joan Strong" persona. And while her/his rhetoric could be pretty inflammatory and divisive at times, s/he was one of the first to recognize the scale and magnitude of threat BCS posed to LASD. Say what you will, but "Joan Strong" raised awareness of both our local charter school conflict, and the larger charter school issue facing the entire country. Despite some of the "attack dog" tactics s/he employed, many of us who support LASD are grateful for the tireless efforts to protect our local schools from the threat of BCS -- a threat that has only now been mitigated with the 5 year agreement and the halt to litigation. Finally, as s/he promised, with the signing of the 5 year agreement, JJS has retired from public commentary. Something that none of the (also anonymous) BCS supporters seem prepared to do.

I think all Mr. Ivanovic was doing was expressing appreciation for someone who devoted so much time and effort to help preserve out local schools. And I think it's a sentiment that many of us share.

I agree with Voter. Just for some additional perspective, as a BCS parent I truly, without exaggeration, feared for my child's safety when JJS was first starting to fan the flames. You may not remember because as he gained a wider audience he cleaned up his act a bit, but if won't forget. And I certainly will not vote for someone who publicly endorses that kind of behavior.

I was afraid and am still afraid of the anonymous poster. He/she seemed to be missing a few marbles. I wanted to check on this for myself so I just read the post by Vlad in the LA/LAH schools site. It was as described. I take too things away from that:

1. Vlad has poor judgement.

2. Vlad thinks that tactics that were used by the anonymous poster were a big help to the community. In fact they were exactly the opposite. BCS was ready to make peace two years ago it is unfortunate that the LASD board of trustees kept the war going. We would have had the exact same settlement that we reached this summer.

[Portion removed; don't speculate on the identity of anonymous posters.] In any event he shouldn't be in a position of leadership where he is making decisions about the education of children.

I am hoping for a better future for our community. I hope that at least one, if not both of the BCS parents that are running for LASD board are elected. From what I know about them they both seem interested in a BCS, LASD partnership.

For the last few years I been very disturbed by the war going on in our community. It wasn't very neighborly. I think quite a bit of that anamosity originated with the LASD Trustees and Administration. I heard many reports of various meetings at each and every school were various leaders stood up and spoke about the evils of Bullis Charter School. Competition is hard, when you didn't have any in the past, but that doesn't mean that you should do anything and everything to get rid of it.

Competition is good for LASD students - even if the Trustees don't like it. If forces LASD to add new programs and address problems. Indeed I am not sure that STEM or Geometry would have been added without competition.

LASD has a long way to go to catch up with BCS with help from some BCS parents who knows what LASD schools can do. Hoping for a better future in which in the needs of kids in school comes first. We are not there yet, but with some new Board of Trustees members we can get there.

I wish our child never went to Bullis. While it certainly has been interesting to participate in the school's creative programs, the horrible things BCS has done to LASD are unconscionable. Many of us feel the same way, but cannot speak up for fear of reprisals against our kids.

I'm glad that our school has finally seen reason and dropped this pointless and expensive war of revenge. While I think all the candidates are decent people, I too will not be voting for anyone connected to BCS.

@BCS Parent - really? Horrible things BCS has done to LASD? reprisals against our kids? This seems totally over the top and written by someone who has been listening to rumor mills and not reality.

As a BCS Parent the pain I feel is when other KIDS tell me or my kids how awful our school is. They have heard the one-sided vitriol that their parents have spread. They have heard the made up stories about school take-overs. They have heard how poorly a part-time "democratically" elected board has dealt with challenge (ie. blame BCS for their lack of policy). Anyone who has any anger in their lives just throws it all at BCS.

There are many sides to every story.

Here's my take. A part-time elected board handles stress slowly and without a well thought out plan. Our hyper-helicopter parents go nuts by making up stories to fill in the blanks that are out there due to lack of communication and a reactionary/angry school board. We're all so busy in our hyper competitive world that we have only enough time to hear the bits and pieces of gossip. The on-line flame war escalated the battle to epic proportions. Any one who felt a little slighted in their lives put all of their angst on BCS.

Now the legacy created is nastiness for our kids. Believe me none of them will think this was an epic battle of democracy (which it wasn't!). All they will take away is that people in power (the LASD board) and a small vocal majority (parents who live close to their schools) can control and bully others into submission.

My kids go to a public school. My kids love their classes, love their teachers, and love the extra curricular activities they have. My kids are just like your kids except they don't hate kids who go to Covington, Loyola, Springer, Almond, or Santa Rita. I haven't taught them to hate your kids. Why are you teaching your kids to hate mine? You say you haven't told them anything about it? Well they have heard you loud and clear. And they are passing your legacy of bullying on down the line.

Sometimes what we teach is not what we hoped to teach.

The entire population of LASD owes BCS a debt of gratitude both for the improvements their simple example has caused LASD to institute and for BCS's extreme forbearance in agreeing to this one-sided compromise to put to bed this myth that BCS is harmful to LASD's facilities use.

Bcs is too a public school! We take public money and are smart enough to prefer students that need less assistance and will score better on tests!

LASD was so abusive to us. That's why we took them to court over and over again. Can you believe that they didn't let us take our choice of a high performing school campus from them?

yes, we are a public school and we should get our people on the lasd board now that the court has ruled against us. we must take the district over from within and crush them.

Can other schools in the district adopt the BCS policies on acceptance in order to reduce the % of special needs students that are accepted? You know...your less desireable when it comes to rating school performance?

I find it offensive that you assume that all special needs kids detract from a school's API. That's not true. The most extreme cases of special needs in LASD are educated in special classes which are not found at 3 of the elementary schools. One of these is Gardner Bullis, which has the lowest API in LASD. SO *NOT* having SDC classes results in a LOWER API? You explain that. Bullis charter does have special education students and does not exclude anyone.

Most students enter BCS as kindergartners. They get there by lottery. There is no selection process. Just how stupid do you think people are? Again there is no selection process - but someone keeps spreading this lie. How would BCS "select" kindergarten students? There is no test or interview. The students at BCS got there because their bingo ball was drawn out randomly. No one has magic powers.

Would a parent of a highly special needs kid apply to a school that has no onsite resources or specialist for that kid? Would a financially struggling family choose to apply to a school requesting $5,000, an amount totaling more spending per student than the surrounding school district? $5,000 is cheaper than paying $30,000 for the same differentiated, individualized, PBL curriculum at Keys School! Would a primarily Spanish (or non-English, non-Mandarin) family apply to a school which begins a Mandarin Immersion in kindergarten? These are all examples of a selection bias. Predominantly most applicants come from a financially strong home, do not require special needs resources, and may come from a Mandarin speaking family. Those groups, especially together, typically have more academically well off kids independent of the "choice" of school.

Would a parent of a highly special needs kid apply to a school that has no onsite resources or specialist for that kid? Would a financially struggling family choose to apply to a school requesting $5,000, an amount totaling more spending per student than the surrounding school district? $5,000 is cheaper than paying $30,000 for the same differentiated, individualized, PBL curriculum at Keys School! Would a primarily Spanish (or non-English, non-Mandarin) family apply to a school which begins a Mandarin Immersion in kindergarten? These are all examples of a selection bias. Predominantly most applicants come from a financially strong home, do not require special needs resources, and may come from a Mandarin speaking family. Those groups, especially together, typically have more academically well off kids independent of the "choice" of school.

Does ANYONE know what it would take to de-certify the charter school?

The parents that you describe - apply, win a place in the lottery and then send their children to BCS.


If your child is in a Special Day Class in an LASD school - they will be assigned to a school, depending on what type of services they need. They do not get to attend their neighborhood school ( unless they randomly live in that neighborhood) and MOST middle school students that receive special education services of any kind are sent to Blach, regardless of where they live and what high school they will attend.


Also I think you need to get up to date. Last year BCS had a higher percentage of ELL students in Kindergarten than LASD schools.

Oh and one more thing - most special needs students are actually diagnosed AFTER they enter school. In kindergarten or first grade. This fact holds true every where, not just BCS. Makes it hard to sort this out before kids enter school, but that is exactly what you are doing.

For the record, our charter school defines some "Special Interest children" as children of families that fail to pay the five-thousand dollar "suggested" donation. The kids are marked and are given "special attention" until the donation has been received.

@ parent not really living on Mayer Ct.

"Would a primarily Spanish (or non-English, non-Mandarin) family apply to a school which begins a Mandarin Immersion in kindergarten? These are all examples of a selection bias"

Yes - they can and do. BCS has spanish speaking parents and employees that help make our school accessible fro spanish speaking families.

BCS does not have a mandarin immersion program. BCS students have mandarin 3 days a week for 40 - 50 minutes - it is a ground breaking program, different than most schools but it is not immersion.

There is no visible difference between the families at BCS and the district averages. BCS scores better on the test that other LASD schools but it is not because the better educated parents send their kids to BCS. Every school has highly educated parents, every school has wealthy parents. Every school has these types of parents in the majority. The main difference is that parents at BCS have chosen to be there - they were not assigned - they didn't end up there because of their address. Another difference is that parents at BCS are choosing program over facilities and location. That might make a difference. The most important reason for the higher test scores at BCS may be the program itself - longer school stay, specialists on staff, merit pay, whole child education, focus on Arts, STEM, and Global Citizenship.

Who keeps bringing up this lottery thing? Anyone can just ask to go and their name is thrown in a hat and if it's pulled out then they get to go???

If you know anything about Bullis, you should know there is a PREFERENCE system that takes precedence before any lottery may happen. It is NOT random.

If you want to normalize the admissions, then make it a lottery system. At the end of next year, all current students are removed from the school. Any child within the State of California may apply for one of the open spots and a lottery will occur.

That would be fair, no?

Uh-oh, the how would the ultra-wealthy LAH elite get their kids privately educated on the public dime? They wouldn't, so that's why this self-serving PREFERENCE system is in place.

Disgusting.

Why should BCS aspire to collect as many special-ed or ESL kids as the rest of LASD? As much as anti-charter intellectuals want to push value system on them, it does not say in charter law that that is a necessity. Frankly, there are a lot of families that want their kids to go to school with smart, well-rounded, ambitious kids that challenge their own kids to do better. Why do you think BCS attracts so many Asians and interracial Asians? It's because those families want academic excellence. They are rooted in a culture of academic performance and they are the families that consistently apply to BCS from LASD yr/yr. They're not there for Mandarin 3-4 times per week. It's the drama, art, STEM, etc and yes, they will cough up the $5K per year. Why demonize them? It's called the American dream and they are seizing it. If you want to call it a selection bias, go for it. But it's selection by opt-in and voting with your feet. I admire their work ethic, their hope of having a better future for their kids, and I'm sure they help BCS elevate its game.

@American Dream -- The charter law actually does say that the primary intended purpose of charters is to target under-served and under-performing segments of the population. All the other reasons (competition, "innovation", etc.) are secondary to this purpose. Charter schools were not intended to create an opportunity for self-segregation and avoidance of segments of the population that some parents might not want their children associating with. The problem is that the weak SCCBOE has been corrupted by charter backed campaign donations and refuses to hold BCS accountable for meeting the intended purpose of the charter laws. You can "admire" those who choose BCS all you want, but I will never admire segregationists of any kind (racial, socio-economic, or academic) -- especially those who take public money, and public facilities to support their "choice".

I like having a choice in schools. I think it keeps everyone on their toes. Too bad people like Dream On can't move on. I think parents can make the best decisions on where their child should be educated and I know I am not alone in that. For most people this battle was about facilities, not school methods.

We applied to BCS last year but are on the waiting list. We will keep trying, it's a better school.

I would like to see candidates that are interested in serving the entire district not just their own school. That's how are board is now. They seem very interested in keeping things the way they are and I don't like that. The current board has a let them eat cake attitude and Ms. Logan is one of the worst offenders. LASD has a quarter of its students from Mountain View but you would never know it.

What you can't possibly mean that. Treat Mountain View residents as equals? Not on your life. Don't you get it? We are lucky that they let us go to their precious schools. Do your best to keep the hoi polloi out - that's the LASD way.


BTW love the Tammy Logan let them eat cake analogy. I think she envisions herself a member of the ruling class, living by the country club, endowing gifts on the teacher's unions. Isn't she nice to let MV kids travel far to go to her schools?

Tammy sure has some interesting ideas - Here is a quote from this week's LA Crier

"Tammy Logan, president of the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees, suggested some “outside-the-box” scenarios for placing a school in Mountain View’s San Antonio area.

“Some sort of similar arrangement could be made with a big-box retailer on the ground floor or floors – shared parking underground and classrooms on the second and third floor,” she said. “One could likely also have some play space on a roof.” "

Is she serious? There must be better solutions than Target Town School. Not fair to kids of the NEC.

What Ms. Logan doesn't want to talk about is that they need the NEC kids to be at their current Los Altos Campuses because with out them the enrollment drops way down. Then you need to redraw attendance boundaries, move six graders to middle and turn over a campus to BCS. So even if they actually build a school in the NEC it would be a place to stick BCS and not an actual NEC neighborhood school. It's been her plan all along.

Let them eat cake.

Yep, Los Altos always puts Los Altos first. Mountain View is third after Los Altos Hills.

We would all be better off with just one district k-12.

I don't get it. Why not build a school for the NEC at the current Bullis Charter School site? I thought the idea of moving Egan to the current Covington site and making it a 6-8 school was a good one. BCS could have the old Egan site and the district could build a school for part of the NEC at the BCS site. No new property needed. No crazy duel use scenarios.

I think that we need Board of Trustees Members that are interested in creating better schools, willing to redraw school attendance boundaries, truly interested in providing a school to the NEC AND are dedicated to not using eminent domaine to take over parks, community centers or private property.

Are there any candidates that fit that criteria?

I believe several new volunteer organizations are starting to mobilize and demand redistricting in return for support of the bond measure. Since the Trustees have not finalized how they want to spend the $150M, introducing redistricting will offer them more flexibility in real estate site selection. The commutes in the town are getting out of control and all the talk about neighborhood schools is bogus. So let's raise the capital, build a new school, retrofit existing schools to accommodate rebalanced school populations.

Please. "Several" new volunteer organizations? Your Each Student Counts PAC, funded by dark money, is the only one taking that position. Traffic issues in the district are driven by the massive job growth in the area and by poor planning and management by local city governments. The district boundaries and assignments to schools are not the primary driver, and you have no data to support that. Now, I'm not arguing against re-drawing of boundaries, but only after a NEC campus is identified so we can increase the percentage of kids assigned to the closest school while balancing attendance and providing capacity for future growth across the district.

We'll need to be careful that the Bullis bullies do not attempt to co-opt the board for their own nefarious purposes. Pay attention to this election cycle folks!

I have never met one of these Bullis Bulies. I have witnessed some very bad behavior on the part of the LASD Board. They get freaked out if BCS students might get any thing close to what students have at Egan and Blach. Currently they are refusing to install lockers at BCS 6-8 campus at Blach. The reason? Well for some reason there are not any lockers at Blach. There are lockers at Egan. BCS seventh and eighth graders had lockers at the Egan BCS campus but not at Blach. The BOTs say no dice. Why?

My theory is that Mr. Smith and Ms. Logan really get upset if BCS students might get something that LASD students do not have - they have done everything they possibly can to make sure that there is clear difference between LASD facilities and BCS facilities. Mr. Smith hates the Fablab. He hates the idea that six graders might get to use an actual science lab , so he forbids. Ms. Logan? She is right there with him freaking out that BCS kids might actually have access to something LASD decided not to provide, but is desperately needed, like lockers.

I agree with BCS parent. We desperately need lockers for our kids. For some reason the unethical behavior of our charter foundation has rubbed off on the students and they are stealing from each other like there is no tomorrow! Last spring, another student took my daughters allowance out of her backpack. Now, perhaps $10,000 is not very much to some of my fellow charter families, but she was going to buy a pair of designer shoes to wear out to dinner. What an inconvenience!

Now I understand that there is nothing we can do about our undemocratically selected board (after all, we are not truly a public school--we just take millions in funds and millions in facilities), but however they tainted our kids, we must lock them down while at school. I just don't have time to send my driver to the bank on extra cash runs.

Whomever is elected to the LASD board, I hope that they will consider doing greater things besides lockers. We need a private bank installed at each BCS location. How can a child's education be complete without regular consultations with our bankers?

Actually my child needs a locker so that he doesn't have cart all of this notebooks back and forth to school everyday.He doesn't need to bring his notebooks home, he finishes his homework after school during office hours - but there is no where to put the notebooks and other school supplies at school. Similar to students at Blach and Egan BCS 7 and 8 graders switch classrooms throughout the day

I have a job and need to be at work at the same time his school starts, so he rides his bike to school. Down very busy streets. . With out crossing guards because the crossing guards do not start until later in morning when the LASD students are going to school. It worries be that he is carry a very full, very heavy backpack everyday, for no reason except for the petty "they can't have something that Blach students don't have" obnoxiousness.

Just trying to do the right thing and not add extra traffic. Hope we can get some support in this. It seems very silly to prevent BCS students from having lockers just because students at Blach don't have them. All that needs to be done is take from the walls at BCS at Egan and reinstall them on the walls over at BCS at Blach. Not that difficult. I am angry that we are still playing these silly games.

I am hoping for a new and better Board of Trustees after the November election. With members that put kids first and leave their egos at the door.

My child brings his materials home every night. He rides his bike and since he isn't a little kid (6th grade last year ), he doesn't need a crossing guard. I think many parents spoil their kid, but that is the wrong way to go. We need a generation of strong and self-reliant individuals.

I'm a Bullis parent, but appreciate all of the accommodations made by LASD. I know that we demand a lot under frankly unfair time tables, but their professionalism is to be commended.

@ Fake BCS Parent

Here is were you blew it -

"I'm a Bullis parent, but appreciate all of the accommodations made by LASD. I know that we demand a lot under frankly unfair time tables, but their professionalism is to be commended."

HAHAHAHAHA If you are going to make stuff up don't going praising the BOT's it is not something most LASD parents would do let alone those at BCS. So over the top in your praise, I think that you must be a BOT or a wannabe BOT.
No BCS parent would ever think that let alone go out of their way to make a post here. Still laughing.

Yes, that BCS Parent is ridiculous. We need to get our people on the Board of Trustees ASAP so we can shut some of their schools down. Let them crowd together in portables!

Wait, so these lockers already exist, they just need to be moved? **Huge Eyeroll** Wonderful leadership. Truly the can-do spirit of the Valley.

Doug and Tammy's biggest fears were that BCS kids were going to be better prepared for high school, college and life than LASD kids. Heaven forbid an LASD kid working for a BCS kid down the road. HA!

Who cares about lockers when LAH BCS kids can have an NEC LASD kid be their porter!

What is the issue with lockers? The real security issue is the incessant lawsuits initiated by BCS cost the taxpayers millions in legal fees. The key question to a candidate with a BCS background is when will the charter foundation make reparations to the district? That money should be spent on the students and not on legal fees from the BCS initiated frivolous lawsuits (and illegal actions that forced the district to seek court protection)

@EthicalStealing, it really doesn't help improve neighborly relations by continuing to blame BCS for taking issues to court. LASD policy was to attempt to shut BCS down by making it challenging for BCS to exist and/or limit the campus size based on odd calculations. Who else would you suggest they appeal to? There are 2 sides to this story. Continuing to bring up the past when both sides have culpability doesn't help lead us into the future. There is desire by this community to have BCS as an option for a PUBLIC school. Let's all let go of the past to help all neighbors now and in the future.

@Blame game -- I agree with the suggestion that everyone should just stand down on this nonsense and let the 5 year agreement be implemented. But where was your "advice" when it was people like:
Superiority
Actual BCS Parent
Let Them Eat Cake
BCS Observer
etc.

The nastiness here is dominated by BCS supporters.

I agree that we must move on, but it is the charter people that must stop their endless assaults on the district. They have lost almost every single court action, yet they have not reimbursed LASD for legal fees. Instead, they have sued the district to have their own legal fees reimbursed!!!! The foundation should pay that money back to the district. Don't take money from our children.

It's great that the charter school has finally agreed to stop suing us, but it doesn't mean that more legal fees will not be incurred as they continue to make unreasonable demands. It just means that it will stay out of court...actually that is not guaranteed. Court is always an option. Instead what we see is that the BCS gang is trying to get their puppets on the LASD board to take it over from within. Their people are maligning the good works of good candidates like Vlad.

Be careful voters..the war is hardly over. BCS will continue to enact revenge on the public for making a pragmatic decision a decade ago.