commuter school

BCS is a Commuter Based School Serving all of LASD and Surrounding Communities. Approximately 75% of the BCS Students Commute

Today, BCS is serving three times the number of students envisioned in either the original charter request, or the historical run-rate of Bullis-Purimmisa.

The reopened Gardner Bullis neighborhood school is serving a similar number of students as was historically served by Bullis-Purissima.

Although BCS is not transparent regarding the residual areas of their students, the reinvented BCS has been committed (since 2008 Charter Petition) to serving all of LASD, an over 20 square mile area, and since the historical population served in Los Altos Hills is being served by a neighborhood school, then the vast majority of the families BCS serves have opted for an educational experience centered around a commuter campus and a commuter community.

The BCS Board recognized this and in the 2016 BCS Charter Petition, they formally changed the section, WHOM THE SCHOOL IS ATTEMPTING TO EDUCATE, from “preserving a neighborhood school environment” to “maintain a community school environment.”

The BCS Board has also chosen to recruit students from outside the LASD district. In 2008, 2011 and 2014 petitions, 1/3 of the BCS applicants are from outside of the district and five years ago the out-of-district enrollment was 6%. Today’s out-of-district enrollment is not disclosed. Assuming 5% to 10% of the enrolled students are out-of-district, then 45 to 90 of the students are commuting from other communities.

Two approaches which follow are estimates of the percentage of the BCS students who commute. The first approach uses published 2018-19 data and several assumptions. The second approach, reflects the BCS estimates for 2019-20 with proximity assumptions. Both are estimates.