Los Altos School District has finally returned to one of its most contentious topics of the last decade – with the construction of the 10th school site, where will that put Bullis Charter School and what does that mean for existing LASD schools?
The LASD Board of Trustees formally discussed this topic for the first time in about two years at their most recent meeting Feb. 5. Trustees again assessed six possible options for allocating facilities between schools, although several options proved to be “nonstarters.”
With BCS currently operating on Egan and Blach school sites, plus the eventual addition of another campus in Mountain View, addressing the issue becomes a calculus problem of where to house each school while considering the effects on enrollment, student opportunity, safety, traffic and more. Another complicating factor in the equation is the unresolved feelings between the LASD and BCS communities that have now spanned decades with no conclusion in sight.
The options considered were as follows:
1. Allocating space for BCS only at the 10th site.
2. Allocating space for BCS split between the 10th site and Egan.
3. Allocating space for BCS only at Egan; Relocating the Egan program to the 10th site.
4. Allocating space for BCS only at Egan; Closing Covington and relocating Egan to Covington; Creating a new LASD elementary at 10th site.
5. Allocating space for BCS only at Covington; Closing Covington; Creating a new LASD elementary at 10th site.
6. Allocating space for BCS only at an existing LASD elementary; Relocating the affected elementary to share Egan or Blach; Creating an additional new LASD elementary school at 10th site.
None of the options were exceptionally popular, but the convoluted nature of options four to six were ruled out quickly by most trustees. Option three also proved undesirable, as the trustees acknowledged that moving Egan would be effectively similar to a school closure.
“As many of our speakers said, the last time we closed a school, we started a charter school,” trustee Jessica Speiser said.
It is unclear what option BCS prefers, however, BCS board treasurer Andrea Eyring wrote in an email to the LASD board prior to the meeting that the BCS board does not support the construction of the 10th site at this time. Back in 2019, the charter school’s leaders proposed a 10-year facilities deal with LASD where it would take sole use of the Egan Junior High campus and Egan would move to the 10th site upon its completion, which ultimately caused a public outcry and was not approved.
Trustee Vladimir Ivanovic floated another possibility – to only build the parks they are legally required to by their deal with the city of Mountain View and then to sell the rest of the land. He argued that with enrollment going down, not just within LASD but in California as a whole, they may not need the site.
He bristled at the possibility of using tens of millions of dollars to build a brand new school site to house BCS, but trustee Shali Sirkay countered that it would be preferable to do that rather than to close a school site.
The board resolved to make a decision at another meeting in March and encouraged public input in the meantime.
Bond possibility looms
In the same meeting, the board approved a contract with a political research firm to perform an electoral feasibility study to place a potential new bond measure before voters, presumably on the Nov. 2024 ballot. At previous meetings regarding increasing costs associated with 10th site construction in addition to the lack of funds available for the infrastructure improvements on other school sites, staff recommended passing another bond measure to make up for the shortfall of Measure N.
Local voters approved Measure N in 2014, a $150 million bond aimed at upgrading, maintaining and expanding schools to prevent overcrowding. While the bond was originally meant to both fund the construction of a new school and to perform maintenance on existing campuses, unforeseen circumstances, including the pandemic and record inflation rates, have altered the trajectory of the original plan for Measure N.
In a May 2023 study session, Dave Olson of Backstrom McCarley Berry & Co., the district’s municipal adviser, advised trustees that they should be considering at least one bond measure to meet the facility needs of the district, if not several over the course of multiple election cycles.
