HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 16Approved Minutes
Los Altos Hills Education Committee Meeting
Regular Meeting
October 16, 2013
1. Meeting was called to order at 7:10pm by the Chair, Ms. Rose.
Present were committee members Jennifer Carlstrom, Duncan
MacMillan, Heather Rose and Karen Schuster. John
Harpootlian was present as the council liaison.
2. Duncan MacMillan moved to accept the amended August 14,
2013 minutes. Duly noted, Motion carries unanimously.
3. Jennifer Carlstrom moved to accept the minutes from the
September 18, 2013 meeting. Duly noted. Motion Carries
unanimously.
4. In LAHS it is estimated that about the same number of kids are
enrolled in local schools as last year. Head count is based on
directories. At this time directories are not out at local schools.
LASD notes a .5% gain between Sept – June. BCS is estimated
to grow from 467 to 615 students. Santa Clara County does
provide the number of students enrolled at BCS but not where
they are from. The state required total count was due October
7th. Is census data a good source for determining enrollment?
Census doesn’t provide age of children just whether or not they
are school aged. New Funding model: what does this mean?
Districts do not know how Basic Aid funding affects them. It is
believed that there are three categories of students that are
included in this new funding model - Low Income, ELD and
Foster Care. Special Education has a separate fund that can’t
be used with the general fund. Schools in both PAUSD and
LASD have Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL’s) qualifying
students.
5. LASD – BCS the Patch stated that LASD and BCS agreed to
seek a Bond issue. Both parties remain far apart on other
issues. It has also been reported that Ken Moore agreed with
LASD Board of Trustee in regards to a need for public dollars,
therefore BCS is willing to provide support for a bond. BCS has
stated multiple times that it has not asked for a new school.
LASD Board of Trustee Doug Smith thanked BCS for their
support of a bond, which would provide 50 million dollars to
build 1 school for Mountain View growth area and another 50
million dollars to build 1 school for BCS. Many existing LASD
schools are in portables therefore another 80 million dollars is
needed to build out existing schools. As a long-term option
portables are expensive because they are they are leased. Ms.
Rose spoke with Mayor Waldeck and he would continue to be
the go between for LASD and BCS. Polling tells us that our
population needs to select a site to ‘sell’ the bond. BCS needs
to have a school that looks like an LASD school. A site in LAH?
A site that is designated Open Space needs to be voted on by
LAH citizens before the status can be converted for a different
use. Next, the town may consider allowing LASD to lease land
not purchase it. Another option would be a land swap with
LASD.
6. Sub-committee needed for many topic areas. Examples are
joint meetings for Los Altos - Los Altos Hills and safe routes to
school. Safe routes to school recommendations have been
made. Traffic engineer for Los Altos has mentioned that the
crossing at Foothill Expressway needs to stay on the radar and
the county should make changes to some intersections. A few
of the recommendations are 1. Los Altos and Los Altos Hills
should cooperate on changing the intersection at Foothill
Expressway and Edith Ave. 2. Data shows we have met the
Los Altos threshold of 40 pedestrians for a crossing guard. Data
also shows a need for a task force to address an all stop at
Foothill Expressway. An all stop would not affect slip lanes
(right turn lanes and yield lanes) 3. Painting cross walks,
crossing guards and an all stop can be done relatively easily
without major construction. There are many community
organizations in the area like Los Altos Forward and Green
Town (private funding) and BPAC (Los Altos volunteer
organization) solving traffic problems. These organizations do
not always focus on schools. Heather can present this
information, with pictures to the Town Council… Mr.
Harpootlian recommends keeping explanations simple so as
not to exceed time limit. It has been suggested that the BCS
issue be raised but time is better spent discussing issues that
the city of LAH can address.
7. Preparation for the November 7th presentation to Council. The
presentation will address enrollment numbers without the
financials. Leave BCS blank or use district numbers. API wrap
up? Does the council want to know or better understand
Common Core? Summery of changes happening with
Common Core. Michael Kirst states that Common Core is a
much bigger change than seen in the past. No scores for a few
years. State mandated the change because the Federal
Government made the education standard change. New
assessments test for in-depth knowledge. Computer based
adaptive test, which requires 1:1 computer ratio. State has
decided to change how they rank schools to include drop out
rates and parent participation rates with the intent to capture a
schools social emotional picture. Either low-end or high-end
teachers get dinged for not showing enough improvement.
Suggested discussion: Common Core (standard of what you
are supposed learn) funding and assessments. Snap shot of
what is Common Core. It is recommended there be one slide of
examples, which mention the two areas currently adopted,
Math and Language Arts. Social Studies and Science to be
adopted in 2014 and will be a focus for the coming year. Bulling
is another issue currently our neighboring districts address
bulling in a number of ways. Anti-bullying awareness month
and other programs are being installed to educate children on
bullying, how to recognize it and talk about it. Recruit more
members to help with pre-school, parks and recreation,
bullying/suicide prevention, wrap-around areas (CHAC). CHAC
is social services for families, which means counseling is
available at school for families. Revisiting financial issue of
PASD children going to LASD where LASD spends more
money because few children from LASD to PASD. Bi-lateral
agreement is unlikely between LASD and PASD. The total
number of PASD students going to LASD school is about 20-30
students. Address potential review of MOU (Memorandum of
Understanding)? Monitor MOU between the districts. Review
charter. Advise them as to the benefit of a community center.
Suggest a goal…. Another school site would be a community
site. Goal - Help develop community assets. A special meeting
will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 29th 7pm.
8. New Business
Adjourned 9:05pm