Bullis Charter School Is A District-Wide School, Not A Neighborhood School
Town Crier Advertorial
Perhaps an unexpected consequence of “Sheltering in Place” is we will have a little more time to reflect on what we want for our community and society once we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis. We know the world will change in some ways, but how? And will it be for better or worse?
Right now, our children are out of school. Yet our community still faces important issues that will impact the future of education for students residing inside the boundaries of the Los Altos School District (LASD). One of those issues is the relationship between the district and Bullis Charter School.
After years of acrimony, there are some hopeful signs of change. But we are also worried that we have not all fully embraced the facts about the current situation.
Joe Hurd, Chairman of the BCS board, published a letter in the Town Crier on March 4. He made the following comment, “I believe that every public school should help all children learn and thrive.” He also stated that “Bullis Charter School wants to ensure that what we’re doing works for the larger community, and especially for English-language learner and socioeconomically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.”
To our ears, these are welcome statements. Hopefully BCS, under Hurd’s leadership, has chosen to proportionally serve all students residing in district boundaries. The current BCS enrollment does not proportionally reflect the race, ethnicity, economic, English language and special needs status of the students residing in the LASD boundaries. (You can access the facts about this situation based on public records at www.needanotherlook.com.)
Mr. Hurd and others representing BCS are fond of comparing BCS enrollment with the district’s individual neighborhood schools. However, for a publicly funded charter school committed to serving the entire school district, these comparisons are inappropriate. When compared to the entire district, BCS underserves many segments of the population. These disparities are not fair to students and they place greater educational and financial burdens on our district.
Mr. Hurd also makes the following statement: “English-language learner and socioeconomically disadvantaged students’ attendance is not going to magically increase overnight.” This is a great point! Potentially, the most important governance step is recognition that there is a need for change.
A reasonable next step might be to set annual goals. The natural turnover of the BCS student population is between 15% and 20%, which represents a graceful, gradual opportunity to move toward a student population proportionally reflective of LASD. During three enrollment cycles, approximately 45% to 60% of BCS’s enrollment will be replaced. In those three years, BCS enrollment could proportionally reflect the enrollment of the entire population of students in the LASD boundaries.
This is an excellent time for the boards of BCS, LASD and the Santa Clara Office of Education (SCCOE) to accept what the data is telling us and engage in coordinated public education stewardship for the benefit of the entire community. Potentially, they might consider the following three ideas to better serve all of our students:
Embrace the expectation that public officials are responsible to plan community education in a rational manner. This requires cooperative community engagement by elected leaders (SCCOE and LASD board members) and the not-elected leaders (BCS board members).
Embrace the recommendation of the group, In The Public Interest, and cooperatively (LASD, BCS and SCCOE) prepare annual financial impact assessments of the impact of the charter school on LASD.
Consider the ordering of lottery preferences, or using a weighted lottery, to achieve an enrollment reflective of the local school district.
We are all in this together. Now is the time to accept our shared challenge and begin addressing the inequities of the BCS student enrollment. We need to work as a team, for the benefit of ALL of our students.
Steve Brown & Sam Harding