I am also running for the Los Altos School District board. I am currently the Chair of the LASD Citizens Advisory Committee on Finance, on the Gardner Bullis Site Council, and a long-time community volunteer.

Why did write a long and glowing tribute to the retiring Joan J Strong? Do you realize that this person scared many BCS parents? Are you a supporter of the strife that she caused in our community? How can we trust you to make the best decisions for our children?

Why is this statement, "About 25 percent of the district's students are Mountain View residents." relevant in this article? Somehow, you make it sound like Mountain View residents are not worthy to be attending the LASD.

Still waiting for an answer.

@Question -- The original request is a reasonable one and I'm interested in the answer as well. But how about a little patience? It's been <24 hours.

@Taxpayer-

I just want to clarify the comment about the percentage of MV Students in LASD schools. My own family has lived in both Los Altos and in Mountain View, and we have never felt that there was any difference in our experience at LASD schools, regardless of where we lived.

The "25% metric" was a fact that I raised to Kevin when he interviewed me. We are talking about that because there's a bit of a "branding" issue. Folks in both communities sometimes think of LASD as only serving students from Los Altos. In reality, 25% of our students come from Mountain View, conversely 1 in 5 kids from Mountain View attend LASD schools. One might reasonably ask why we care about this. Finding land for a new school site is a challenge, and we are hoping to work cooperatively with local governments to accomplish that difficult task. We have some examples of how we've partnered well with Los Altos City Council (building and running the City Gyms at Egan and Blach), and I'm told that MVCC has funded field rehabilitation at Springer. We're looking to continue those kinds of partnerships. Thus, it is valuable to remind readers in Mountain View that the Los Altos School District does serve a significant number of students from Mountain View.

Best wishes
DJS

I've noticed that the MV Voice frequently tries to explain the relevance of all sorts of stories by explaining how many MV residents are involved. I think considering you are reading the MOUNTAIN VIEW Voice, that this is clearly relevant. Touchy Touchy.

It's not like they pointed out the equally true fact "64% of LASD students are Los Altos Residents" or even "75% of Los Altos public elementary school kids attend LASD schools and 25% of them attend Cupertino Union School District schools."

What needs to happen in order to revoke BCS's charter. They have been actively campaigning a war against LASD for years and years. Millions of dollars down the drain defending against their onslaught. Now, they are trying to take over the LASD board. The charter system is about improving failing school systems. LASD is one of the top.

Revoke the charter. How?

Oh yeah, and alternative to LASD is clearly an attack, because they are so weak that they cannot compete..... What a load that is. Revoke the charter because they are competition for LASD? That's not how these things work.

Competition is fine. Going to court over and over again to force a high performing school district to disrupt a high performing school is NOT competition. It is harassment.

BCS has abused the charter school rules to take public monies to privately teach their childeren.

If BCS is public, then why are there no public elections to the BCS board?!?!

Mr. Ivanovic -

You reposted this story and started this new tread to point out that you are running for the board, kind of a don't forget about me statement. I haven't forgotten but it appears you have. Please answer this voters questions:

Why did you write a long and glowing tribute to the retiring Joan J Strong? Do you realize that this person scared many BCS parents? Are you a supporter of the strife that she caused in our community? How can we trust you to make the best decisions for our children?

MV-Voice reported this story, not Mr Ivanovic. Vladimir is entitled to his own opinion and that includes a thank you to JJS for not shying away from pointing out the hypocrisies and ludicrous actions of the BCS board. If BCS parents were "scared" by an anonymous online poster then they can come out and explain how with their real names. Much like many LASD parents came out who were scared after the BCS board demanded and sued for the closure of one of our public schools.

Vladimir has been an active committee participants in helping make LASD one of the top school districts in the state and reaching out to share that educational approach with others. I think he will make an excellent addition to the school board.

@Question for Mr. Ivanovic -- your question is certainly valid in an election cycle, but there are a couple of important points: First, JJS did not cause the "strife in our community", s/he highlighted in very pointed terms the threat BCS posed to our neighborhood school model within LASD, and to specific campuses in particular. Raising community awareness of these issues was critical to reaching an acceptable long term agreement. The "strife" was dominantly caused by the militant, hostile approach BCS took towards engaging with LASD from the inception of the charter. Secondly, I see zero rational basis for any parent to be afraid for their child based on the postings of JJS. It's absurd on it's face and I think such claims are largely pathetic attempts at deflecting the substance of the discussion away from the real issues by hiding behind some alleged fear for the children.

That said, I look forward to a response from Mr. Ivanovic on this. I can personally see many valid reasons to thank someone who worked so tirelessly and passionately in defense of our local schools -- and who has stepped away from the conflict now that a peace accord is in place (unlike many BCS zealots who still want to extract vengeance for alleged "discrimination")

I would like to know how Mr. Ivanovic will work with the charter school, so I am interested in hearing his reply. I am lasd parent,but not a fan of ms. Strong. Friends of mine in the bcs community mentioned that they were worried about some her posts afew years back, there was real concern there.

There are two strands of comments for this article. Mr. Ivanovic started this new one, he has the first post. The older one is located here: Web Link

I am also interested in Mr. Ivanvics answers. Joan J Strong posted some very nasty commentary. She is also most likely the person responsible for the fake BCS website and BCS parents as Hitler video. My children viewed both of them by mistake. Joan J Strong mentioned the website and linked to and the Hitler video on numerous occasions. She also posted a suggestion that members of our LASD community should shun BCS parents for sending their children to BCS. Not great community building. Not a great person either. Certainly not someone who should be praised and defended. I am interested in hearing why Mr. Ivanovic decided to go out of his way to do so.

Working with the BCS board is going to be a huge part of his job - I don't see how he can do that.

I heard district school parents have been scared about a guy named David walking around their campuses taking detailed notes and going online criticizing all aspects of our schools in defense of Bullis. This same person formed an organization called EACH to further disparage our educational model. Who is more scary, a purely online personal or a real person who goes to great lengths online and offline to take away from our schools?

@Let's hear some answers -- There is zero evidence that the person behind the Joan Strong persona was behind the website or the videos you referenced. To your last point, I'd like to understand how you think Martha McClatchie could work with the rest of the LASD board and the LASD community when she has spent the last several years as Treasurer of the BCS Foundation directly aiding and abetting aggressive litigation and PR attacks on our school district.

Maybe we can ask Martha to post an answer to that here as well...

Martha is just the person to help lasd and bcs settle their differences. Web Link

She is a great community volunteer.

I am interested in Mr. Valdovic's response. We need trustees that will put kids first. It doesn't seem like he is interested in doing that.

I am also concerned that he wants to build schools in our Los altos parks. I know that he wants to take over hill view.

@Fan of Martha -- Nice Link. Are you perhaps a paid "Political Strategist" and PR rep like Jay Reed from Wheelhouse Strategy Group? Who not coincidentally was paid out of the BCS Foundation (where Martha is treasurer) for working against LASD? I hope not, because he's recently been fired by the David Cortese campaign for "weird, sexist tweets".

Also interesting that the Endorsements section of Martha's campaign site shows not a single endorsement from anyone associated with BCS despite Martha's deep involvement with the charter school and it's foundation. Could she be trying to hide her allegiance to BCS?

Martha also conspicuously fails to list her role as Treasurer of the BCS Foundation on her list of Local Community Volunteer experience. Clearly trying to distance herself from the BCS inner circle. Not. Going. To. Work.

You're wrong. Martha's web site clearly says she is a board member of the BCS foundation. It's formally know as Bullis-Purissima Elementary School Foundation, just as BCS is formally known as Bullis-Purissima Elementary School.

If you would like to ask Martha a question, try her twitter account @mcclatchie2014. She's admittedly "new to Twitter", and was so excited to receive her first spam tweet that it was the best part of the day!

@ Answers, Almond Parent, David T, etc.

Nice try at deflecting attention away from Mr. Ivanovic.

I am still really interested in what he has to say and I would like him to answer.

Also I didn't realize that he was in favor of taking away park space so I would like to know about his plans for Hillview and Rosita.

On a final note I would also like to know his position on a campus for the NEC. That is were we need a school.

Directly from Martha's website:

Web Link

Increase productive communication between LASD and Bullis Charter School (BCS)

Bring LASD and BCS boards together to work out the differences
Support mediation between LASD and BCS boards
Keep reminding all stakeholders that every dollar paid to the lawyers is less money for kids programs.

Let’s leave the lawsuits behind!

@WRONG! -- My apologies for the oversight. She does state her position with the BCS Foundation. She still has no business on the LASD board of trustees.

@gigi -- the lawsuits are over. Both sides have dropped all outstanding litigation as part of the 5 year agreement. In addition, the agreement already calls for mediation and arbitration to resolve differences. No need for Martha's "unifying" influence here.

We have some important choices to make in November. I would like to see the bond pass. I believe that the NEC deserves itls own neighborhood school. From what I can deduce from Mr. Ivanovic he doesn't really seem at interested in this.

His support of Joan J Strong and using Hillview as a school site tells me that he is only interested in attacking BCS and petty district politics. He has made some very bad choices, I don't want him in charge of bond funds.

Mr. Ivanovic has had two days to answer my reasonable questions but instead we have had complete silence.

Still waiting.

If the growing public interest in de-certifying BCS persists, would Martha be willing to cede to the public interest and support such an initiative?

That is the key question. Not this he said-she said red herring game the anti-LASD crowd persists with.

I find it interesting that this agreement is signed only a couple years before the BCS charter is up for renewal. What I am concerned about is that, after the charter is renewed, if it is, then the lawsuits will resume, if not immediately, then just after the end of the 5 years. I hope that the litigation is over, but it will take time before I believe things have really changed.

As for people being scared of JJS, what poppycock. I have personally spoken with several district parents who were accosted in the streets of Los Altos by BCS supporters and their children were REALLY scared. If someone stating their opinion is scary, then I guess that's a different kind of problem.

I hope this situation can be mended but it won't be unless we put aside the snark and try to find solutions that work for everybody. I have shelved my concerns until I have a reason to think there is a problem. I hope others can do the same.

@p - I'm a BCS parent. I have personally been verbally attacked in my neighborhood park by an LASD parent in front of my kids. My kids still talk about it trying to understand. My kids have been told how terrible their school is in our park, at our scout troop, and in our neighborhood. The things they are told are facts are highly questionable rumors that appear on-line from characters like JJS.

I find your account of an LASD parent being accosted in the street by a BCS supporter to be highly dubious. BCS parents are the minority in this district. That is why LASD can continue to discriminate. Most all BCS parents I've met new and returning are very cautious to talk about their attendance at the school with anyone due to the inflammatory on-line rantings of a few paranoid NIMBYs.

Ah yes the BCS parent attacking an LASD parent rumor. It is completely fabricated.

The first time the rumor popped up an LASD Parent that she was threatened by a BCS Parent at Safeway while she was there with her her son that has disabilities. According to account given by the BCS parent was yelling at her and was physically menacing.

Increadibly, a few years later this same person claimed that she was verbally attacked by a BCS parent at the Los Altos Farmers Market, this time she was with her daughter that has a serious illness.


I have so much empathy for this parent, I really do, she is having a very difficult time. However, that does not excuse the fact that she made the entire thing up.

This rumor is important for another reason - JJS used this as an excuse to keep "her" identity secret. She cited it over and over again.

In truth there were several indigents where members of the BCS community were physically threatened and they were caught on camera or witnessed by many people. One of them was even at a County School Board Meeting.

I hope we can but stuff like this behind us. Stop making up stuff it really isn't nice.

I am still waiting for some answers. The stuff going on here points to fact that we need Trustees that will put kids first. In the past Mr. Ivanovic has been one the agitators. Here's hoping that we will get some answers soon.

BCS are a "minority" that is "being discriminated against"????

That is highly offensive to all of the millions of racial minorities in the US that are truly discriminated against every day!

It is very clear that it is only a core subset of the BCS parents that are actively trying to damage the LASD school district to benefit their childeren. Please don't assume that every single one of them is rotten. There are more than a few that are not.

mi·nor·i·ty

noun
1.
the smaller number or part, especially a number that is less than half the whole number.
"harsher measures for the minority of really serious offenders"
"a blocking minority of 23 votes"
a relatively small group of people, especially one commonly discriminated against in a community, society, or nation, differing from others in race, religion, language, or political persuasion.
"representatives of ethnic minorities"

Clearly BCS Parents are a minority group by this definition. And we and are children are constantly under verbal attack.

@Information -- give it a rest. BCS parents and supporters have long likened their "struggle" to the civil rights movement, and tried to equate their "suffering" to that endured by true minorities. It is pathetic and hugely offensive for anyone in a wealthy community like ours to attempt to draw similarities between our "haves and have-mores" conflict, and legitimate civil rights struggles. Is the "minority" term correct in a Webster's dictionary sense? Sure. But that's hardly the point.

Finally, go take a look at the related articles here, on the FB forums, and on the LATC website. The majority of the instigators of negative commentary are now BCS parents and supporters who clearly wanted their board to continue the litigation against LASD. I had hoped this would all die down with the 5 year agreement, but certainly won't sit quietly and let baseless criticisms against LASD and the trustees go unanswered. You want peace in the community? Try shutting up for a while and let the peace agreement be implemented.

Comparing ones situation to the horrible discrimmination that large segments that our population suffers from is probably why BCS lost most of their court battles. Using a dictionary definition to support an untenable position is sad.

Hopefully when the charter lapses in a few years, their renewal will be denied.

Mr. Ivanovic is taking a page out of the Joan J Strong book of cowardly behavior.

My questions are fair and reasonable ones. I would like to know how we can trust Mr. Ivanovic to carry out the very important job of LASD Trustee when he has shown such poor judgement.

@Question (and question, and question, and question...) -- Mr. Ivanovic has not shown "such poor judgement". He has simply expressed gratitude for the efforts of a tireless advocate for LASD in the face of a decade of attacks from BCS. If you are so fixated on WHY he would do this, show up at the next campaign event and ask him yourself. But please, please stop boring us with the incessant, repeated demands for answers to your question.

His gratitude was in very poor judgement. It shows that he really doesn't support the settlement with BCS.
Joan J Strong was never a tireless advocate. She/He/They (pick one there are many theories on who this troll was) was a force for nasty behavior which encouraged others to behave very badly. Joan J Strong is the person that set up the fake BCS website which was hidden behind a firewall in Hong Kong. Serious business and total craziness. Not something to rah, rah about.

I am still waiting for Mr. Ivanovic's answers

@Questions -- First, zero, absolutely zero evidence that the person behind the JJS persona was also behind the website and videos. You can keep saying it all you want, but it doesn't make it true. As you said, it was behind some firewall in Hong Kong, so you have no way of knowing. I never got the impression that JJS was particularly technical, so that would have been a neat trick. JJS absolutely raised awareness in the community and helped ensure the Trustees had a clear understanding of the priorities of their constituents. It's called democracy my friend. And it worked.

Again, if you want to know WHY Mr. Ivanovic wrote that piece, and whether or not he supports the agreement, show up at a campaign event and ask (if you have the stones). But we do have a peace agreement in place, so here's a question for you: Why not simply STFU and see how this plays out? Maybe we'll all be better off...

Oh yes, I definitely did bullischarterscam the web site. Don't take credit for that away from me. I know that Bullis Charter is composed of 57% minority students whereas Gardner Bullis is only 35% minority. This really steams me and it's the reason that I had the big vendetta against Bullis Charter. How dare those uppity minorities go away and escape the Teacher's Union.

Consider it settled.

P.S. VOTE FOR VLAD! He's white and he's Male!

Los Altos School District teachers are 84% white. Bullis Charter teachers are 68% white. Something tells me there's meaning in this.

Don't waste your vote on Mr. Ivanovic. He quit the race last time. He will probably quit again. Move on, nothing to see here. It looks like he already quit this thread.

Don't waste your vote on quitters.

@Quitters -- What's your problem? Mr. Ivanovic withdrew from the last election to help ensure the vote wasn't split across multiple pro-LASD candidates, and potentially allowing the partisan BCS candidate to slip through. It was the right move for the community and I applaud the selflessness. This time around, people like you are taking issue with Mr. Ivanovic's comments that he would not have run if the other incumbents had chosen to. If he, like many of us, though the existing trustees had largely done an outstanding job, why would he run against them? Yet people like you continually post your faux-indignation at both of these things to try to stir negative sentiment. Vote your choice in November. I'll be voting mine. We'll see who is more aligned with the majority of LASD voters.

An inside source tells me that BCS will not have its charter renewed. There is contingency planning being made to convert BCS into a truly private school, rather than taking funds and facilities from the public. Most of the families can easily afford the costs and a few could fully fund it in peperturiy.

Nice try at starting unfounded rumors silly LASD faithful persons. Please try and find a new hobby.
This BCS insider knows nothing of your suggested private school rumor. Over here at BCS we are just happy to have things worked out for the next five years. My child doesn't have to shuffle around every few weeks to meet some twisted capacity numbers dreamed up by the LASD Legal Team. We didn't like going to court, but it was are only option. So now we have a mediator to settle difference instead. That's a huge step forward. Hopefully nothing will need to go mediation but wow what a great change!

And as far as any scoop about charter renewal or anything else - let me state the obvious. BCS is here to stay, offering a public school choice. Residents in the LASD have always had a quite a few private school choices, but unlike EVERY OTHER school district in our area, including the ones with high test scores, LASD has steadfastly refused to make any changes to it's 1950 eras programs. So BCS is innovating because LASD refused to do so.

I won't be voting for Mr. Ivanovic. He's seems very interested in trying to end the five year agreement with BCS. He also seems interested in taking away the Hillview Community Center from the citizens of Los Altos and he is a quitter.

I can confirm the discussions about full privatization of BCS. The largest stumbling block is the facilities. We want our school to be very close to LAH, but do not want to pay fair market value. Ideally, we would have successfully forced LASD to give us our own large campus, but it looks like our only two options are:

1) take over the LASD board
2) privatize and build our own facility

If option 1 fails in this election cycle, option 2 will be more fully explored.

OH NO ITS FAKE BCS PARENT1

Yep, in this election cycle that's our plan. Sangeeth and Vladimir are stealth plants from BCS. Don't you know how wealthy they are? Then the 3rd BCS controlling interest is Martha. Martha Sageeth and Vlad are a slate. They're going to be endorsed by Huttlinger too so watch for it! It will be so cool. Then when LASD makes a deal for the land in LAH at a bargain rate, they'll dangle it to BCS, lease the site out to the new private school for 30 years and force BCS to cut its enrollment in half so that it only serves a few kids. Residents in LAH will get priority since the whole town has to vote to let the land be used. But the big hold up is getting that vote to work. So Dave Cortright has moved to LAH and he's going to run for Town Council up there. All will be well with Dave on board. Also, rumour has it David Letterman and David Duchovny are moving to town and it will be Council of Daves that handle all of this. They're all running for LAH Town Council!

Secretly BCS is helping some of its parents plan to start a new charter school which will FORBIT LAH residents from entry. They're doing it with a little known provision in the ed code against having 2 charter schools in the same town of a union school district. Stay tuned. It's going to be itneresting.

TAKE OVER LASD BOARD: Drunk, Nut-case, or A-hole... you be the judge...

@ Take over the board.

You are awesome - very funny!

@ Really?


Who is your favorite LASD Board member? I know its hard to choose! So many great ones.

I can also confirm the discussions about full privatization of BCS. The largest stumbling block is the facilities. We want our school to be very close to LAH, but do not want to pay fair market value. Ideally, we would have successfully forced LASD to give us our own large campus, but it looks like our only two options are:

1) take over the LASD board
2) privatize and build our own facility

If option 1 fails in this election cycle, option 2 will be more fully explored.

Let's focus on the real issues, folks. Let's not bring up any of the following red herrings because they are the issues we need to focus on in this fall's election: 1) Rita Estrada and her special needs child being accosted at Safeway; 2) Vladmir Ivanovic and his relationship with Joan J Strong; 3) Martha McClatchie and her BCS views/ties; 4) BCS charter renewal/privatization; or 5) Sangeeth Peruri's work resignation. No more rumor mongering. We should be focused on a) where are we going to find affordable land; b) how Mountain View is going to assist Los Altos in this issue; and c) making sure the Trustees are accountable for spending our $150M efficiently.

While we are all sharing I thought I might clue you all in to our plan:

1. Sky lights for Covington- 38 million isn't too much for natural light.
2. Send North of Foothill back to Santa Rita - it's okay we are kicking the MV/PA poor kid out.
3. New media center for Covington- got to keep up with latest.
4. All Special Education at Springer- too tiresome having all the special ed preschoolers here.
5. Redraw attendance boundaries - MV students go to MV Whisman schools.
6. Hand Springer over to MV Whisman and be done with it. LASD stands for Los Altos.
7. Perfomring Arts Center at Almond - after MV kids leave. We need to show the wizard of oz ten more times to break even.
8. Media Center and MPR at Santa Rita Nothing but the best for PTA warrior women.
9. Solar Panels at all schools, being green is so important to our identity.
10. Find some way to get rid of BCS, they make us look bad.
11. LASD for LA and LAH only. No MV.
12. If we kick MV out we don't need a to build a school for the NEC.
13. LASD for LA/LAH residents only.

@ Stay on Target

Hmmm I don't think that was about Rita.
I think it is important to debunk myths, so we should start with the correct person. It wasn't Rita that made up the two conflicting stories. Rita certainly has some stuff to own up too, but the two different stories isn't hers.

Some very sick people (or probably only one) that makes up cr*p about LASD. Top performing schools in the district. Can't argue that, so go away.

Sure if you use good test scores as the only measure of Top Preforming than LASD is doing fine. Although considering the demographics if would be stocking if LASD didn't score in the top 10 percent of California Schools. The fact that so many of our local residents chose BCS instead is what I find interesting.

" The fact that so many of our local residents chose BCS instead is what I find interesting."

Well, earlier you called BCS families a "minority" and now they number in the "so many" category. Please seek psychiatric assistance immediately!

In the meantime, I'd like to know more about the decertification of BCS. After the millions of public money wasted in court, it is best for the students if they stopped taking public funds.

Still waiting for Mr. Ivanovic answers - which are more important than ever considering the comments about decertification.

Maybe Mr. Ivanovic has already commented.

A core belief held by BCS.parents is that they are a discriminated against minority. If elected, will you petition the Supreme Court to order the FBI.to investigate the allegations? Will you bring in the Natuonal Guard to protect BCS kids going to school?

Just like Desegregation, this is the key question that must be answered by anyone who would seek election.

I am truly offended by all the fear- and rumor-mongering posts on this site, most of which seem to come from a single (or a small few) BCS proponents. The persistent, inflammatory accusations are so cruel and petty. This has got to stop! You should all be ashamed of yourselves -- you set a horrible example for the children you are supposedly trying to protect.

@Question, @Quitter, et al - Are you in favor of another 10 years of litigation, war and division? Why not give peace a chance?

Maybe you are asking JJS to return?!? Now, wouldn't that be funny?

@George, I agree with you that we should stop fear- and rumor-mongering posts on this site, ... including your posting. Saying that it all come from BCS proponent is a bit in the same bucket. Kicking the MV students from the students, decertify BCS comes most likely from LASD proponents. This is not very constructive to do fear-mongering, neither is to blame a huge group of people. Anyway, these comments on this article have lost any credibility for a long time now. All candidates are people we should thank for their service to the community. We should just agree that we disagree on policy decision.

I think the original questions posed by Question for Mr. Ivanovic were good ones. I am surprised he didn't answer. If you are running for office shouldn't you be willing to answer reasonable questions?

A core belief held by BCS.parents is that they are a discriminated against minority. If elected, will you petition the Supreme Court to order the FBI.to investigate the allegations? Will you bring in the Natuonal Guard to protect BCS kids going to school?

Just like Desegregation, this is the key question that must be answered by anyone who would seek election.

Hmmm not sure that explains why he didn't answer it in the beginning. It wasn't until more than 24 hours later that some crazy postings started and those were by an LASD supporter that wanted to revoke the BCS charter. Something that Mr. Ivanovic has supported in the past.

Shaon is right. The next big battle for Freedom in this country is lifting the shackles from the BCS families so they can proudly get to and from their far superior schools. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I have a dream. A dream where the wealthy elite may walk to their publicly funded yet privately controlled places of learning. A dream where our silver-spoon childeren would leave the melting pot and become pure 24 carat one-percenters."

Will the candidates join us on our Freedom Walk?

Any PRIVATE school is 5x better than a public school. None of the political BS as with public schools that waste taxpayers money.

@ Get it correct. Thanks for clarifying the misinformation. I never accused anyone of accosting me in a parking lot. Separately, I'm not sure what you mean when you say I have my own stuff to own up to. I have been completely transparent with my experience.

P.S. Do people with fake names really think they have any credibility? Come on guys, get real ;)