Crowd approaching 150 to hear Dave Cortright propose Target as next BCS school site – a joke? Not so much.
Dave Cortright Los Altos was the highlight of the evening, but only spoke later in the evening. The Covington MP room was near capacity at 150 as the Nov. 5 LASD meeting on the BCS Prop 39 process began at 7 pm. Peter Evans, BCS board member and Fred Gallagher, (husband of BCS board member Anne Marie Gallagher), made a 1o or 15 minute presentation about the enrollment forecast for BCS that drives the facilities offer. They also stayed for the entire meeting that went beyond 10pm, listening to all the parent comments. As we explained in this post, BCS proposes to grow enrollment by almost 25%. They showed a very nice “build” slide at the meeting. It helped illustrate that about half of the total growth(127) is due simply to the cohorts of current students advancing to the next grade. The other half is due to BCS adding 4 classrooms for K-3 to accommodate excess demand of past rejected and likely new applicants ( 78? students). As required by the Prop 39 process, BCS stated a geographic preference for facilities – “exclusive use of Covington school.”
BCS board member, Peter Evans, presents the enrollment forecast to LASD parents and the LASD Board
Why exclusive use, and not sharing of Covington, as has been proposed in the past? Well, the 2013-14 BCS could be almost 650 students, much larger than before. A sharing arrangement, with different school schedules, would trigger a CEQA – a California, Environmental Quality Assessment. These really just boil down to traffic and parking– nothing really about green. And actually, even without sharing, at 650 students, any individual — say someone who lives near Covington– could intiate a CEQA…and then everything is stalled. So it’s just no go at Covington.[ In the past, when BCS was smaller, it used to state its geo preference as Bullis Gardner.]
LALAHPOLITICO COMMENT: That is why we already predicted the final Prop 39 Offer for 2013-14 will just be more space on Egan and Blach, maybe more balanced between the two. The rest of the Covington business is just political theater. It’s a shame to put those novice Covington parents through the angst when it’s all about nothing.
Dave Cortright proposes to lease space Out of District for BCS. A joke? No.
DAVE CORTRIGHT LOS ALTOS PROPOSES “CREATIVE” SOLUTIONS FOR RIGHT NOW
Late in the meeting, about 30 people in the remaining audience of 70 stood up to acknowledge SUPPORT of public speaker Dave Cortright ( SCCBoE Area #1 candidate) and presumably of his 2 minutes of remarks. Here is verbatim.
Dave Cortright Los Altos: We need a tenth site. It’s pretty clear. We ‘ve got way too many portables the way it is. And having these guys in portables as they continue to grow just doesn’t make sense. If we give them a school site we are just going to end up with more crowded schools. I don’t think any one wants that. So Egan-Blach would be great, if we can continue to do that. But I really think we need to go after that tenth site. And if it’s not really about acquiring it, and paying for it and building it out, then I think we really need to get onto looking out there for places we can rent for the next year. Taking the pressure off the Los Altos School District properties is of primary importance. So that is my out of the box thinking. I would remind you all, tomorrow is election day. So please all get out there and vote.
Mark Goines at the left and Doug Smith at the right, both of the LASD Board, during questioning
Mark Goines:“ I’m not sure I understood your point about rental. What do you mean?”
Dave Cortright Los Altos: For a tenth site for BCS to occupy for the next year, it is just to find one for next year.
Mark Goines: Do you have any places available?
Dave Cortright Los Altos: Yeah Target.
Audience: Laughter.
Dave Cortright Los Altos: I’ll think about that and get back to you.
Mark Goines: Thanks. That would be great.
OVERVIEW OF SPEAKER COMMENTS
About 55 people submitted cards. Maybe 45 stayed to deliver their 2 minutes.
About 1/3 seemed fair-spirited, human and accommodating – a lot of folks from the the MV Crossings and Old Mill Communities. They were willing to accept temporary use of Covington. If they were to be moved (have their attendance area changed), please move them as a community. One parent said they had been moved 4 times?!
LALAHPOLITICO COMMENT: About another 1/3, mostly local to Covington, seemed frightened, but still willing to accept the humanity of BCS, the school, the parents, the children. The last 1/3 seemed to have read too much of anonymous online persona — Joan J Strong, the rabid charter school hater — actually she may have been amongst them.
Fred Gallagher of BCS assited BCS Board member, Peter Evans, with the presentation of the BCS enrollment forecast
DEBUNKING NON-LASD LOCATIONS FOR BCS
LALAHPOLITICO COMMENT: I heard way too much of….”Oh, isn’t there some site in MV Whisman, or some site in East Palo Alto, or some site in Sunnyvale, either an old school or a commercial building where BCS could move on a short or long-term basis?”
Does that actually sound like a proposal BCS could live with to you? If so, vote for Dave Cortright. Any of these proposals are basically telling BCS to go where the sun don’t shine.
The charter for BCS stipulates it is supposed to admit LASD attendance area students first, and out of area students last. Right now BCS is 92% in district and wants to move to 95% in district.
Here’s a thought experiment. Suppose Cortright arranges to put BCS in an unused school in Sunnyvale by Wolfe Road ( Note: this is imaginary. There are probably no unused schools in Sunnyvale.). Now the existing Los Altos students at BCS have double the auto commute they had before. Some 20% of those existing students probably actually did walk or bike to Egan. Many will abandon BCS and return to the neighborhood schools. New applicants to a BCS located in Sunnyvale will not be from LASD, but rather will be from Sunnyvale. Very few Los Altans will apply to BCS in future years–instead they will freely (ha ha) “choose LASD.” Who applies to BCS in Sunnyvale? – the families who live a short commute from the school in Sunnyvale. The API scores go down. The parent donations go down. It basically is not an LASD school at all. It is just a County School.
But this is just what the LASD establishment wants. The heretic parents are forced to return to LASD. Los Altos Teacher Union hirings go up. Los Altos Teacher Union dues go up. The non-union teachers at BCS – the lousy scabs – have to teach the hoi poloi in Sunnyvale now. Perfect!
I know I want to send my children to school here. Much better than those portables. Ha, Ha!
