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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 12Final Minutes    1     Los Altos Hills Education Committee Meeting Regular Meeting February 12, 2014 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. Covington parent Sangeeth Peruri was a guest. John Harpootlian was present as the council liaison. 2. Minutes approved. Jennifer moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Duly seconded. Motion Carries unanimously. 3. Safe Routes discussions. • Crossing guard active at Foothill Expressway and W. Edith Avenue. Egan Jr. High School and Gardner Bullis School parents counted walkers and bikers at these intersections and reported numbers back to the City of Los Altos. • Ms. Rose provided feedback to representatives of Santa Clara County VTA regarding student crossing of Foothill during a public VTA meeting in Los Altos. Council member Rich Larson was also present at the VTA feedback session. A bridge is one idea. A few concerns with a bridge over Foothill are cost (10 million dollars) and it does not solve all walking and biking crossing problems at each intersection. On Oregon Expressway in Palo Alto they are changing six intersections to add an 8-stage stop light (prevents cars turning right while walkers cross) and squaring the corners for budgeted 4 million dollars. Similar changes along Foothill Expressway within the Los Altos City boundaries would update the lights and improve safety for walkers and bikers by eliminating and/or reducing the number of “slip lanes” and “pork chops” for cross-streets with Foothill Expressway. Another less costly solution would be similar to the area in Palo Alto near Terman Middle School, which has a crossing guard controlled “all stop” during school crossing hours. The mayor of Los Altos, Megan Satterlee, is interested in hosting community discussions regarding Foothill Expressway traffic. The current bridge at Loyola Corners over Foothill Expressway is not safe for pedestrians or bikes. Los Altos Final Minutes    2     Hills children biking and walking to LASD schools do not cross here, but go to other less convenient crossing points or do not bike. • Green Town Los Altos is active in working with schools in both towns to document and encourage walking and biking to school. • In Los Altos Hills at the Manuela Road intersection near La Paloma Road the new pathway is eroding. Water naturally pools in that area. Will it be replaced? Richard Chu has knowledge of a mobile app that allows you to take a picture and report it back to the town with GPS information. Construction at La Paloma Road is blocking the street and view of oncoming traffic. • Construction of an improved bike lane on Portola Avenue will begin during the summer. Changes should improve safety for biking and walking to Egan Jr. High School and Bullis Charter School from Los Altos Avenue. Doug Smith is the board representative for that sub-committee. 4. Our Town education articles. Pick a topic for Elementary, Middle or High School to highlight in Our Town. Ask for input from different schools in which LAH students attend. The first topic is “The Hour of Code” for March 2014. Article will focus on K-5 and touch on computer instruction for K-12. Middle School/Junior High will focus on Science Fair, STEM and Fab Lab. The High School topic will look into entrepreneurship programs in local high schools. 5. TEA Tax (Targeted Employment Area Tax). John Radford would like to see the town receive more revenue. Carl Cahill, Los Altos Hills City Manager expresses a need for road improvements for a large number of roads which are private and should be made public Currently, the county fire district has a large share of the LAH property tax. The current TEA Tax distribution was established in ’88-’89 to cover the county’s budget deficit for education. Since this temporary budget shortfall was implemented as state law, it will take another state law to undo it if LAH wishes to retrieve TEA tax revenues. Final Minutes    3     6. School District Updates. • LASD Bond Survey results presented at the LASD Board meeting. Survey results are more positive than last year. More polling will be done in June or July. LASD Board has until August to decide to place a measure on the ballot in November. A campus built for BCS was a much smaller issue to voters in these survey results. More important to voters is to understand how the bond money will be spent and where a new school site will be. • Long-term negotiations for a BCS school site have stalled after several mediated discussions with Judge McAdams. The number of low-income and special needs children at BCS came into question by LASD Board. These students are more expensive to educate and can require special facilities. • BCS Board meeting attended by Ms. Rose. Video celebrates their 10-year Anniversary. BCS adopted the No Bully program. 8th Grade Architecture projects were presented. These students made good use of the Fab Lab, which is a design and fabrication lab. Minimal discussion about the FUA (Facilities Use Agreement). 7. Additional updates. • The Sixth District PTA presented to State Legislature representatives on why California needs more money for education. Available on YouTube. • Council does not require the committee to take action on the letter from Bill Balsom. 8. Council presentation. March 20th at City Council Meeting (begins at 6pm) is the yearly Education Committees presentation to council. John Harpootlian advised the committee to demonstrate value to the City. For example: what the enrollment numbers mean, education trends, safe routes to school, school district news, Our Town articles, role to assist other City organizations, etc. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:54pm.