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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 14FINAL  –  approved  2/18/15   1     Los  Altos  Hills  Education  Committee  Meeting   Regular  Meeting   January  14,  2015   1.  Call  to  order:    The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  chair,  Heather  Rose,  at  7:02pm;   noting  a  quorum.    Present  were  committee  members:  Duncan  MacMillan,  Heather   Rose,  Jennifer  Carlstrom,  Andrea  Angquist,  Karen  Schuster.    John  Harpootlian  was   present  as  the  council  liaison.    Chandana  Reddy-­‐Sinha  was  present  as  a  guest.       2.  Minutes:    Upon  a  motion  by  Jennifer,  duly  seconded,  it  was  resolved  that  the   minutes  of  the  December  meeting  were  approved  as  amended,  by  a  unanimous  vote.       3.  Enrollment  Data:         Duncan  has  made  numerous  calls  to  BCS  requesting  enrollment  data.    The   administration  has  not  returned  his  phone  calls.    This  is  the  third  year  that  BCS  has   not  provided  enrollment  data  for  the  town  of  Los  Altos  Hills.    Without  the  data  from   the  school,  the  data  for  BCS  will  need  to  be  estimated.     In  the  absence  of  real  data,  Duncan  suggests  a  letter  from  the  Council  requesting  this   data  from  BCS  may  help.    Heather  pointed  out  that  when  LASD  requested  similar   information,  LASD  had  to  get  a  ruling  by  a  judge  for  compliance.    BCS  only  complied   via  court  order.      Committee  discussed  possible  methods  for  estimating  data.     Motion:    Upon  a  motion  by  Duncan,  duly  seconded,  requesting  that  the  Council  send   a  letter  asking  for  enrollment  data  from  BCS  was  approved  by  a  vote  of  4:1  (Heather   opposed).    Heather  suggests  that  this  request  be  added  to  the  City  Council  agenda   separately  from  the  committee’s  annual  presentation.         Community  College  tax  contributions:    Heather  noted  that  we  pay  local  bond  and  tax   revenue  to  De  Anza/Foothill  Community  College.    Thus  far,  we  have  not  collected   data  on  these  students  and  will  continue  to  concentrate  on  K12  enrollments.     4.  Safe  Routes:         Egan/BCS  on  Portola  Ave  in  Los  Altos.    Number  of  reported  accidents  in  Los  Altos   tripled  in  the  last  five  years  between  2009-­‐2012.    Neighbors  have  been  influential  in   keeping  the  back  gates  around  Egan  School  closed  which  would  otherwise  provide  a   safer  route  to  school  for  Los  Altos  and  LAH  students  who  walk  and  bike.    Karen  was   part  of  a  parent  group  who  brought  this  issue  to  the  Los  Altos  City  Council  during   public  comments.    (See  Town  Crier  article,  “Egan,  BCS  parents  join  forces  for   safety”    dated  Jan  21,  2015  (included  at  end.)     Terman/Gunn  route  at  Arastradero  &  Foothill  Expressway.    Duncan  reported  on   illegal  u-­‐turns  and  a  fence  blocking  walkers/bikers  to  Terman  Middle  School  and   FINAL  –  approved  2/18/15   2     Gunn  High  School  at  Foothill  Expressway  and  Arastradero  Avenue.        (See  Handout1,   attached.)    A  safer  route  to  school  could  be  created  by  separating  students  on  foot   and  on  bike  from  cars  turning  onto  Foothill  Expressway  from  Arastradero.     Gardner  Bullis  Traffic:    The  consensus  was  that  reporting  the  total  number  of  cars  in   a  line  to  turn  left  during  pick  up  hours  (see  Figure  1)  and  counting  the  number  of   people  violating  the  law  by  driving  into  oncoming  traffic  would  help  provide   documentation  necessary  to  create  safer  routes  to  school.    In  addition,  wait  times  for   turning  left  should  be  documented.    3rd  graders  are  now  being  released  at  2:45pm,   causing  more  of  a  backup.    Parents  from  Gardner  attempted  to  document  concerns   and,  hopefully,  reporting  violations  to  the  sheriff  will  help  highlight  the  problem.          Figure  1  shows  Fremont  Road  at  parking  lot  entrance  to  Gardner  Bullis  (North  is  up).    Parent  cars  queue   on  the  North  side  of  Fremont  Road  to  wait  to  enter  the  parking  lot  on  the  South  side  of  Fremont  Road.     The  queue  is  typically  from  2:30  pm  to  2:50  pm.    Frustrated  drivers  traveling  West  on  Fremont  Road  are   passing  the  queue  by  driving  on  the  wrong  side  of  road  -­‐  into  on-­‐coming  traffic.     5.  Communications:       Heather  will  draft  maps  and  detours  for  Gardner  Bullis.    Consider  writing  an  article   in  Our  Town  about  driving  more  safely  around  schools,  including  offering  a  detour   map.    September  makes  sense  to  coincide  with  a  restart  in  school  traffic.    Heather   has  asked  that  the  Pathways  and  Traffic  committees  work  together  with  the   Education  Committee  on  safer  routes  to  school.       Heather  continues  to  post  to  the  Los  Altos  Hills  blog  to  supplement  Our  Town   articles  (http://losaltoshillseducation.org/),  which  helps  keep  the  community   informed.         6.  District  Updates:     PAUSD:  is  considering  placing  another  Parcel  Tax  on  the  May,  2015  ballot.    Current   Parcel  Tax  is  7%  of  revenue  for  the  district,  with  the  renewal  and  increase;  it  will  go   up  to  8%  of  revenue.    Reasons:    a)  The  “Fair  Share”  (similar  to  the  "Revenue  Limit  of   the  past)  reduction  to  Basic  Aid  districts  from  Prop  30  has  been  made  permanent   reducing  the  school  district’s  general  fund  budget.    b)  PAUSD  would  use  new  money   FINAL  –  approved  2/18/15   3     for  new  programs  to  close  the  achievement  gap,  restart  summer  school  for  students   who  qualify,  and  fund  student  wellness  programs  and  STEM  programs.    The  13th   Elementary  site  committee  will  be  renamed  and  will  expand  their  focus  to  include   middle  school.    "Save  the  2008"  is  a  call  by  Gunn  students  and  teachers  to  improve   the  wellness  of  students  at  Gunn.     LASD:    Board  meeting  was  cut  short  due  to  a  member  being  ill.    The  bond  has  passed   so  they  need  a  civilian  committee  to  serve  on  the  bond  spending  committee.       Quarterly  joint  BCS-­‐LASD  meetings  are  being  held.    BCS  reports  similar  issues  that   the  LASD  schools  report.       MVLA:  Working  on  Math  Pathways.    Barry  Groves  will  be  retiring.  Mountain  View   Whisman,  Superintendent  will  be  retiring.       BCS:    Kristin  attending  information  meeting  tonight.     LASD  Facilities  Committee:    No  new  information  since  December.      Information   found  here:    http://www.lasdschools.org/District/6687-­‐Enrollment-­‐Growth-­‐ Information.html       7.  New  Business:         Carl  Cahill  would  like  the  committee  to  provide  input  on  the  provided  report  from   LASD  on  the  CEQA  study  to  support  the  current  5-­‐year  agreement  between  LASD   and  BCS  on  facilities.    Jennifer  agreed  to  read  it  over  and  comment.         LAH  News:  Recycle  processing  tours  are  to  be  held  on  Wednesday,  January  21st   from  9:00-­‐10:00am  at  653  Charles  Street,  San  Jose,  CA  95112.    February  4th    is  the   committee  chairs  meeting.       There  being  no  further  business,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  at  8:37  pm.                       FINAL  –  approved  2/18/15   4