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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 7Final  –  approved  11/11/15   Los  Altos  Hills  Education  Committee   Special  Meeting   Wednesday,  October  7,  2015     1.  Roll  Call:   • Meeting  was  called  to  order  at  7:05pm  by  Chair,  Ms.  Rose.   • Committee  members  (4  of  6):  Heather  Rose  (chair),  Karen  Schuster   (secretary),  Jennifer  Carlstrom,  Kay  Randall   • Council  liaison:  John  Radford   • Guests  (8):    Duncan,  Lawrence,  Kjell,  Kimberly,  Maggie,  Eric,  Peter,  Josh     2.  Public  Comments:   • Involved  questions  about  timing  and  Nixon  enrollment.     • Residents  who  attend  Nixon  like  Nixon.     • Residents  who  attend  Nixon  say  having  a  neighborhood  school  in  Los  Altos   Hills  is  not  a  factor  for  them  as  they  moved  to  the  Nixon  attendance  area.   • John  Radford  finds  this  issue  important  to  LAHS  residents    It  was  good  that   Ms.  Rose  brought  this  to  the  town’s  attention.   • Town  Council  is  advocating  to  educate  the  residents  about  this  issue  and   keep  PAUSD  aware  of  the  LAHS  residents.    Town  council  does  not  have  an   official  stance.     • Lawrence  grew  up  in  Los  Altos  Hills  and  expresses  his  interest  in  becoming  a   member  of  the  committee.       • Juana  Briones  scores  are  very  similar  to  Nixon.  International  communities.     Juana  Briones  has  a  more  stable  community.  Barron  Park  scores  are  down  for   all  groups.  Defacto  overflow  school.    “Cul-­‐de-­‐sac  Neighborhood”  school  that  is   very  difficult  to  reach.    Culture  fit  was  difficult.  New  principal  is  working  hard   to  transform  the  school  with  STEM  focus.         • Peer-­‐progression  may  be  most  important  factor  in  school  choice.    Hard  to   make  the  transition  between  8th  &  12th  grades  to  a  new  school  district.     3.  Recommendation  of  the  PAUSD  EMAC  to  redistrict  LAH  from  Nixon  to  Juana   Briones/Barron  Park  :   • No  agreed  upon  solution.     • Many  issues  -­‐  declining  enrollment,  New  development  on  Stanford  land.   • Grandfathered-­‐  in  LAHS  parents  and  any  subsequent  children.   • MOU  needs  to  be  renewed.  Gardner  Bullis  MOU  is  around  30  children.   • MOU  should  be  more  equal  in  the  revenue  sharing  issue.       4.  PAUSD  reorganization  timeline:   • The  Enrollment  Management  Advisory  Committee  (EMAC)  does  not  have  a   LAHS  person  on  the  committee.     Final  –  approved  11/11/15     5.  Next  Steps:   • EMAC,  2  more  meetings   • November  Board  will  meet  to  hear  findings   • Dec  /Jan  final  report   • EMAC  Secondary  School  reporting  later  in  month.   • Current  Nixon  community  will  not  be  impacted  but  future  enrollments  of   new  students  without  siblings  already  enrolled  will  be  impacted  and  again   splitting  up  the  LAHS  community.       6.  A  resident  suggested  nominating  a  candidate  for  a  4-­‐year  term  to  Santa   Clara  County  Committee  on  School  District  Organization  for  District  5.   Suggestions:   • Previously  selected  candidates  were  former  school  board  members.    For  Los   Altos  Hills,  look  to  past  city  council  members  for  a  candidate.  As  we  have  no   past  school  board  members  living  in  Los  Altos  Hills.   • No  action  taken  by  the  Committee.    Not  enough  time  to  recruit  a  candidate  (in   the  next  two  weeks)  who  would  be  successful.     7.  Town  Survey:       • A  targeted  survey  where  they  will  do  direct  calling  so  that  they  can  come  up   with  a  valid  answer  to  questions.    Godbey.   • Targeting  around  how  money  is  spent.    Build  community  center  or  not.     • Additional  facilities  for  seniors  or  other  special  groups.  Town  council  will  not   be  soliciting  other  questions.       • John  Radford  tabled  Ed.  Committee  request  to  add  questions  to  the  survey.       8.  Gardner  Bullis  routes  to  school  feedback:       • Feedback  from  the  parents.  Large  maps  with  pathways  and  roads.    Students   and  parents  were  asked  to  mark  up  the  map  and  make  suggestions.       • Difficulty  with  parking  at  Gardner  Bullis  is  an  issue.       9.  PAUSD  MOU  Renewal  Proposal:   • Heather  and  John  will  have  a  meeting  with  PAUSD  but  it  is  really  an  issue   between  school  districts.     • John  Radford  said  that  Council  will  work  to  make  sure  the  MOU  stays  intact.     10.  Project  Safety  Net  student  film,  “Unmasked:”   • Teen  suicide  and  related  issues  were  highlighted  in  a  film,  “Unmasked”,  done   by  the  PALY  and  GUNN  HIGH  film  students.   • Well  done  movie  and  message  consistent  with  Project  Safety  Net.    Mental   health  is  health.    Biggest  challenge  is  the  stigma  of  seeking  treatement.   • What  is  the  role  of  extreme  academic  pressure?    In  two  cases  of  the  2009   suicides,  academic  pressure  was  NOT  an  issue.    It  is  just  one  of  many  sources   of  stress,  but  has  not  been  proven  to  be  causal.   Final  –  approved  11/11/15   • What  is  the  outcome  of  academic  pressure?    Cheating  is  one  outcome  and  is   done  more  frequently  by  the  students  who  feel  the  most  pressure  to  succeed   at  the  highest  levels.    i.e.  Palo  Alto  HS  news  article  exposes  a  test  cheating   scheme  by  a  group  of  high  school  students.    Need  to  define  clearly  what  is   “team  work”  versus  what  is  “cheating”  for  our  students.     11.  Enrollment  Report  2015-­‐2016   • Letters  will  be  done  for  the  next  Ed  Committee  meeting.     12.  Minutes  from  June,  2015  meeting  approved   • Motion  made  to  approve  minutes  from  September.  Jennifer  Carlstrom   moved  to  approve  the  minutes.    Duly  seconded.  Motion  Carries  unanimously.     13.  District  Updates:   • LASD:    Teachers  are  mad  about  lack  of  commitment  to  pay  raises.    Lots  of   changes  with  move  to  standards  based  grading  and  Haiku.    Haiku  Learning  is   not  fully  adopted  and  may  take  three  to  four  years  as  it  did  for  PAUSD  to  fully   adopt  Schoology  –  which  has  better  support  than  Haiku.   • MVLA:    Robotics  Team  was  5th  in  the  United  States.   • BCS:    Working  with  the  county  to  provide  their  STEAM  curriculum.    1st   enrollment  information  night  in  November.       • PAUSD:    SBAC  results  high  school  participation    rate  was  35%  because  of   scheduling    conflict  with  AP  &  SAT.    K-­‐8  participation  was  nearly  100%.     14.  New  Business:   • Action  Items:  Schedule  a  private  meeting  between  Max  McGee,  John  Radford   and  Heather  Rose.           Meeting Adjourned 9:20pm.