HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 8Los Altos Hills Education Committee
Meeting Minutes
January 8th, 2010
1. Meeting was called to order by Chairman Carey.
2. New members Jennifer Carlstrom and Christine Murad were welcomed to the
Committee.
3. All members were present except Jennifer Carlstrom.
4. There were no presentations from the floor.
5. Draft minutes of the November 6th Education Committee meeting were approved by
unanimous vote. Minutes of the December 4th meeting were approved by a vote of 6-3
after removal of the following sentence from Item #6: “The results of this lawsuit were
similar to the previous ones, including ruling largely in favor of LASD on issues such as
the provision of equivalent facilities at the current BCS site.”
6. Anne Marie Gallagher updated the Committee that a postcard from LAH regarding the
new Bullis Charter School (BCS) 7th grade offering was no longer needed, since BCS is
sending their own information. The Committee request to council to approve funding
for this postcard will be withdrawn.
7. On behalf of the Education Committee, John Radford will attend a Charter School
Summit sponsored by the Santa Clara Office of Education on January 30th.
8. The Committee next considered a proposed resolution regarding continued issues
related to BCS, LASD, and Gardner Bullis School (GBS). It was discussed that with the
recent ruling in the latest lawsuit by BCS, recent turnover on the LASD Board and the
LAH City Council, and the upcoming change in superintendents at LASD, there could be a
window of opportunity for the involved parties (BCS and LASD) to sit down for another
attempt at productive dialogue. It was further discussed that perhaps the Education
Committee could help facilitate a new dialogue, especially if some guiding principles
could be established (security for GBS, a permanent location for BCS, and an end to
lawsuits).
9. After extensive discussion, these principles, as well as further background on these
issues, were adopted in a resolution from the EC to be forwarded to Council for
consideration and possible adoption on behalf of LAH. A copy of this resolution is
included with these minutes. The EC voted 6-4 to adopt the resolution with further
recommendation that Council forward this to the involved schools/boards. Voting yes
were committee members Carey, Stewart, MacMillan, Stark, Murad, and Ramberg.
Voting no were committee members Gallagher, Hartley, Radford, and Halsey.
10. Tracey Stewart discussed the idea of using RSS feeds as a method of communicating
between our committee and town residents. This idea to be further discussed at next
meeting.
11. It was noted that John Radford and Bart Carey have a meeting scheduled with Ken
Moore and Wanny Hersey of BCS on January 29th, with further update to follow.
12. In regard to Gunn HS access, Tracey Stewart and Duncan MacMillan met with Gunn
officials. There will be further consideration of the mitigated negative declaration under
CEQA in March. A letter stating the position of the EC was previously sent to Gunn
officials. In the meantime traffic studies continue, as do meetings with concerned
parties.
13. It was hoped that for the next EC meeting, we will have completed analysis of LAH
enrollment data from 2007-09 as provided by the districts.
14. EC members discussed moving their meeting times, given that Friday afternoon is
difficult for some members.
15. The LASD proposal to put all-day K at GBS was noted, with further vote upcoming by
LASD Board.
16. It was noted that PAUSD recently formally extended the MOU that allows LAH families
from the PAUSD side of town multi-year transfers to GBS.
17. It was suggested that EC members formalize attendance at school board meetings—an
issue for continued discussion.
18. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.