Letter to SCCOE: We Need a Plan
Santa Clara County Board of Education
Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, Ph.D., County Superintendent of Schools
1290 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95131
RE: Public Education in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View.
How did we get here and what does the data tells us about our current state
Dear Board Members and Dr. Dewan:
Dr. Dewan, thank you for your recent communication suggesting we find a time to meet in January to discuss my interests and concerns pertaining to Bullis Charter School (BCS) and related issues confronting the communities of Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. I appreciate your willingness to meet with me on January 22nd.
As you may recall, I first wrote to you and the Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCOE) on September 19, 2019. I did not receive a formal response, but you responded to a communication from Los Altos School District (LASD) raising similar matters of concern. In your response, you requested additional data and analysis.
Recently, I have reviewed a substantial amount of data and documents related to matters of community concern and an item raised initially in my previous communication: Ethnicity, Race and Enrollment Over Time at BCS. Attached please find a document outlining data and analysis indicating that BCS is on an enrollment growth path which has resulted in a student population that does not reflect the ethnicity, race and economic status of LASD as a whole.
When encountering a problem or opportunity, I believe it helps to understand the process to arriving to the current situation; then review and seek to understand the data which characterizes the current situation; and most important, decide on a desired three-year path to reach an improved future situation.
Since BCS is chartered by SCCOE, we need your help and leadership. The fundamental issues SCCOE, and our community, have to address are not about who gets which facility. Eventually the facilities' issues of today will be resolved. Possibly, that resolution will require the help of the courts. Regardless, but most important, our community will still be left with many unaddressed issues related to the core values of public education. Together, we can begin addressing these most important issues today.
We need to decide how we feel about ethnic and racial segregation; our role in educating the economically disadvantaged; the importance of transparency in maintaining public trust in our institutions; the importance of physical (vs. virtual/commuter) communities; how we finance our schools; and what is the role of LASD in supporting out-of-district students.
There is a profound need for our community, along with you, your team, the SCCOE Board and the LASD board, to engage in thoughtful dialogue about what we want for our future. Hopefully, BCS board members will participate in the dialogue.
I look forward to discussing the evolution that lead to the current state, the data driven picture of our current state and also requesting your leadership in helping establish an aligned, 3-year forward goal which we can all work to achieve.
Sincerely,
Steve Brown
26120 Rancho Manuella Lane
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
stevebrown94022@gmail.com
cell: 650-996-4895
cc:
Grace H. Mah, Area 1
Kathleen M. King, Area 2
Rosemary Kamei, Area 3
Joseph Di Salvo, Area 4
Anna Song, Area 5
Peter Ortiz, Area 6
Claudia Rossi, Area 7
Mary Ann Dewan, Ph.D., County Superintendent of Schools
Michelle Johnson, Ed.D., Interim Director Charter Schools Department
Gavin Newsom, California Governor
Xavier Becerra, California Attorney General
Christine Chuang, Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Garrett Lindsey, Deputy Attorney General
Tony Thurmond, California Superintendent of Schools
Linda Darling-Hammond, President of California State Board of Education
Jerry Hill, California State Senator, 13th District
Marc Berman, California State Assembly, 24th District
Connie Leyva, Chair of California State Senate Education Committee
Patrick O’Donnell, Chair of California State Assembly Education Committee