Below are selected paraphrased key points made by 30 or so Bullis Charter School parents speaking to the LASD Board as it prepared to consider the Prop 39 Final Offer for the Bullis Charter Schools 2014-15 school year at the March 24, 2014 Board meeting. There are full remarks from 3 parents. Lalahpolitico intersperses some of her remarks.
[hr]FULL REMARKS
The BCS area on Blach (brown) is hardly visible on Blach. ( photo August 6)
Nina Trappi
I have been a Loyola mom twice. I’ve been an Oak mom. I’ve been a Blach mom. And I appreciate so much what the district schools have done for me. But I have to say that my son has blossomed at BCS. And the experiences he has had at Bullis have been tremendous. The opportunity to engage in a different way; the block scheduling; the way they do their curriculum has been phenomenal for him. I am so grateful that there is a charter school. We were able to try something different. I think the experiments they do work so well because they have dedicated teachers who are willing to take risks. They are willing to try something new.
I think that this charter is such a valuable resource for our community and that sometimes that all gets lost in this fighting. But I don’t think that my child now at the Bullis Blach campus receives the same facilities that he had at Oak, that he had a Loyola, that my daughter had at Blach. That makes me very sad.
Because this is a fabulous place to go to school. People come here just to experience what it is like to raise a family here. And this feud — and I used to be a parent on the outside, I didn’t know what was going on –and this feud makes us all look diminished in the eyes of the public. And that is not good for us. And this does not set a good example for the children. In the end we all want the children to do well. Yet the children are the ones who will suffer, as everyone has already talked about.
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Teresa Joseph
My name is Teresa Joseph and I am a parent of 2 children at Bullis Charter School, a long time home owner/tax payer in Los Altos Hills in the Los Altos School District.
I am here to speak about the need for outdoor space for BCS children at the Blach site. I am very confused why BCS students at the Blach site are not permitted to freely use the outdoor space that is sitting idle.
As you all know, all children need the outdoor space during recess and lunch to freely walk around or play basketball or four square or what-have-you. You would all agree that children in general need these activities to decompress and reset before going back into the classroom.
Mathematical square footage computations do not sufficiently take the children’s needs into account. I am on the Blach site on a regular basis as a lunch time volunteer, and see first hand what happens in practice. Frequently there are 1 or 2 members of the public using the large outdoor track and field space to jog and stretch while BCS students wonder why they are not allowed to set foot on it.
It breaks my heart to have to tell the children that we are not permitted to use it. Please let the children freely use these tax-payer funded school facilities. This is critical for BCS because you haven’t allowed us to put up a play structure at the Blach site for our students. I have also been a parent at the Gardner Bullis School and have seen first hand the large choice of outdoor activities children have at Gardner Bullis and how limited our choices are for BCS children.
I am also very concerned about next year and whether my child and his peers will have adequate outdoor space, because the Preliminary Offer does not seem to mention any. As you discuss tonight the Final Offer you will be making to BCS, please remember to make the dedicated outdoor space allocation to BCS. Please uphold your responsibility to look after the well being of all public school children, not just those who choose District program.
I sincerely hope that you consider my input. Thank you.
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Junwei Bao
I spoke a couple times in the board meetings last year, and missed the last few meetings. I felt my comments went to deaf ears in the past, at least to some of the board members. For example, in one of the board meetings, when a parent’s comment implied Charter schools are not public schools, I was requesting the then board chairperson to clarify with the audience that Charter School IS public school by law. But without any response.
We, the charter school parents, may be not the majority in the school district, but we represent a significant minority, at least 15%, or even greater if you consider the parents of the long waiting list applicants. I believe in this mature democracy, people should understand what is minority rights. The majority does NOT have right to deprive the right of minority – in this case, the equal share of facility for our school children. If you, as public elected officials, do not recognize this, what is the difference between our community and some of the darkest periods in this nation’s history, when some minority groups were discriminated or even enslaved, or even sent to internment camps during world war 2?
For most of the board members, I assume you will be acting in good faith to provide equal facilities to BCS students. I’d like to point out a few inequalities.
• LASD projected 605 in-district students (districts are only required to provide facilities for in-district charter students), even though BCS projected 685 in-district students for next year.
o If BCS ends up not having the projected in-district students in the next year, there would be monetary fine.
o On the other hand, if BCS ends up having the 685 in-district students, but the school district only provides space for 605 students, there is no consequence to the district. “Instead we have the official LASD Trustee HIDD policy – Harm, Ignore. Delay, and Deflect” – quoted from a commenter at Los Altos Online.
• There is no outdoor space whatsoever for any BCS K-6 students who might be placed at the Blach site.
• And many more… Please read BCS Preliminary Offer Response at BCS website.
o When my kids complained last year that they had very limited place to play at the Blach campus, I had to remind them that it is similar to the elementary school I grew up with in the 1980s in a big urban city in northern China that I brought them over to visit at my hometown two years ago, and told them that the physical environment should not limit your ability to study, or to do exercise. There are hundreds of millions of kids who are having much worse condition than BCS sector at Blach.
o However, when they asked me why some of their friends who go to Santa Rita have much large playground and it is unfair because we all live in the same community, the only answer I could tell them is: “Hi, Kid, this world is not fair”. Dear esteemed trustees, do you think this is the best example to teach our kids that the world is not fair just because we choose to send them to a public school that we believe best fit to them? Or please teach me how I should explain?
At the end, I’d like to remind many of the board members, and I still have hope that you should agree with your consciousness, that as an elected school board member, you should serve your obligation to the public by doing your own research and think with your own brain when casting your vote for the BCS facility issues, instead of just blindly follow certain members and act like a rubber stamp. Considering the strong voices of BCS parents representing a large percentage of LASD community tonight, it would be a big surprise that the board would unanimously approve any resolution ignoring the repetitive petitions of the speakers tonight. Or maybe the LASD school board has evolved into a form of “superior democracy” like certain countries in the world without a single dissenting ballot?
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SUMMARIES
Lack of green outdoor space at Blach.
Summarizing several BCS parents…The track at Blach sits idle for almost the entire day. Yet Blach BCS students can’t use it for PE, or for recess and lunch play. “They can’t step on a single blade of grass. ” “My kids ask me why the used field cannot be used by them, and I have to tell them, ‘The world is unfair.’” In contrast, the occasional adult runner or dog walker will be seen enjoying the track area during the day. The Los Altos School District BOT is putting dogs and the general public above the needs of District students. “This is wrong.”
Doug Smith said that the public is not allowed on school property during the day. “We just don’t have the resources to enforce that.” [Lalahpolitico: But Los Altos School District BOT can put time and money and litigation on enforcing the 2013-14 FUA which says BCS students are not allowed on Blach track property during the day. Funny, huh? “It’s the law, it’s the contract, it’s the rules,” except when it’s not enforced. Why the disciminatory enforcement? Does Los Altos School District BOT not “like” BCS? Los Altos School District wants to be a good neighbor to the neighborhood but not to BCS?].
Doug Smith also chided a mom who had admitted that as a lunch monitor she had urged kids to just go ahead and use the grass areas. Apparently the kids did not go ahead and play on the grass. [Lalahpolitico: Apparently BCS is full of little sticklers for the letter of the law, even when it’s a mean-spirited law.] [hr] Pareto optimal
As a trained economist, Lalahpolitco wants to point out, if one can redistribute an asset – unused resource– to someone WITHOUT reducing the enjoyment of anyone else, one should DO IT. The vacant track fields at Blach, seem to be such a situation. Who is being displaced if BCS uses them when they are vacant? A few runners, a few doggies? Would BOT like some payment from BCS for extra wear and tear on the 3 acres of Blach track when 200 BCS kids steps on those 3 acres?
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Lack of PE facilities at Blach
“In the offer, BCS only gets access to the Blach gym one day a week before 9am for its 6th and 7th grades. There is no PE time for 5&6 graders who Los Altos School District BOT want to move their for 2014-15.”
BCS has requested more time and access to the City gym at Blach. Los Altos School District BOT Tamara Logan, said categorically NO to the City gym. Why? Because fifth and sixth graders at district managed schools, don’t have access to a City gym. [Lalahpolitico: So what? The City gym would be “reasonably equivalent.” And if it is empty, what’s the problem? Did they ask the City? ] [hr]
The BCS area on Blach (brown) is hardly visible on Blach. ( photo August 6)
Lack of Blacktop at Blach
“The preliminary offer does not increase the already minimal blacktop – dedicated and shared – at Blach, even though student load is rising from 127 to 197. “[Lalahpolitico: besides what are clearly just narrow walkways there are two 12 or 16 foot wide by maybe 40 to 50 ft. long blacktop areas. Aren’t play area supposed to be squarish? ] [hr] Lack of dedicated and shared Multi-purpose room space for assemblies and drama and choir events
“The preliminary offer for BCS at Blach has a single portable – 1440 sq ft. – which is supposed to accommodate over 200 students plus staff and parents. The offer does include 12 days [sic in FO now is 20 days ] use a year of a Blach MPR which is large enough to accommodate BCS 5-8 graders, staff and parents. But District schools have an assembly about once a week or about 32 times a year. [Lalahpolitico: Reasonably equivalent? 12 is approximately 32?]
Only one 960 sq foot ( about 30 ft. by 32 ft. ) specialized classroom for 200 students.
The BCS art teacher argued, “it is not possible to configure a single smallish space as both a Science Room and and an Art Room for 200 students.” [Lalahpolitico: science and art have very different furniture and gear. At least they did when I was a kid.] BCS is requesting a second 960 sq. ft. portable.
“Taking away” the Home Arts and Computer Lab at Blach.
Several parents said the preliminary offer was “taking away” the home arts and computer lab. These were two places BCS had made “investments in infrastructure.” Lalahpolitico understands this to mean that the old Blach home economics room at the far back of the Blach building — a room with a kitchen — is not in the preliminary offer for 2014-15. The 7th and 8th graders had cooking class there and it was also used as a classroom. Also a room which was an annex to the Blach Library is not in the offer. This year BCS installed routers and wiring to create a computer lab.
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END of SUMMARIES
