LASD Board Meeting - May 12, 2008 - 7:00PM

The next LASD Board Meeting is this coming Monday. Parents have added an agenda item titled Report Card on District Communications. Following the outcry over the Almond Principal decision and the subsequent Board Meeting on April 14,  Mark Goines gave the district a grade of "F" in communications and vowed to improve.  Four weeks later, has the situation improved? Are positive steps being made? Has the district reached out to the Almond community with any acknowledgment of their concerns, or any further information?

If you have an opinion on this issue either way, Monday evening is your chance to be heard.

The district has promised the item will appear early on the agenda, so sleeping bags will not be necessary to attend.

Local Press Coverage of the Almond Principal Selection

• Make new Almond Principal welcome

Editorial Los Altos Town Crier - April 23, 2008

• New School Principal to visit Almond

Palo Alto Daily News - April 21, 2008

• School District Discord

Palo Alto Daily News - April 20, 2008

• LASD Losing Friends

Los Altos Town Crier - April 16, 2008

• LASD Parents Demand Better Communication

Los Altos Town Crier - April 16, 2008

• Almond principal....
  

Palo Alto Daily News - April 12, 2008

• Outrage at Almond
  

Mountain View Voice - April 11, 2008

• Los Altos school board vows improved communication
  

Palo Alto Daily News - April 9, 2008

• Almond upset at change of principal
  

Palo Alto Daily News - April 4, 2008

• Almond community protests LASD decision to replace principal
  

Los Altos Town Crier - April 2, 2008

LASD Board Meeting - April 28, 2008 - 7:00PM

Next board meeting is on April 28, 2008 at 7:00PM in the Board Room at Covington.

Agenda should be posted  here.

DENIED! Latest LASD Lawsuit re: Bullis Charter School

**Updated*** 

Court sides with Bullis - Mountain View Voice, April 23, 2008

According to the Santa Clara County Superior Court, a recent LASD lawsuit has been denied. The lawsuit was in reaction to a change in enrollment preferences that the Santa Clara County Board of Education awarded to Bullis Charter School. The enrollment preference is for roughly the same attendance area as the Bullis Purissima Elementary School slated to reopen this Fall. 

Earlier in the year Tim Justus had admitted in an Almond PTA meeting that the new attendance preference could impact the LASD's boundary projections going forward. "We developed attendance areas not knowing someone else would come along and give another school the same attendance area." he said. When asked by a parent at that same meeting if the district would revisit the boundary issue should the lawsuit fail, he replied that the district will cross that bridge when they come to it. 

A final ruling on the lawsuit, orignally scheduled for mid-February, had been delayed until now. The financial cost to the district for this failed legal action has not yet been revealed. At the onset of the lawsuit, Tim Justus was quoted in the Los Altos Town Crier as saying: “We have no idea what this is going to cost”

See specifics of Bullis Charter School admission preferences.

LASD Losing Friends

After seeing some of the LASD's recent actions, a recent letter to the Editor of the Los Altos Town Crier has this suggestion for the Board. 

What the board needs to do is take a Dale Carnegie course in interpersonal and positive community relations.

For reference, here are some memorable quotes from "How to win Friends and influence People."  The LASD Board has vowed improved communication-perhaps they should begin here. 

Cupertino teachers reject the district's latest offer

From the Mercury News Education Section:

On April 8, hundreds of teachers, parents and community members marched down Stevens Creek and De Anza boulevards to the district office where they rallied in protest and presented petitions to the school board.
The teachers have been on work to rule - putting in only the minimum number of hours required - since March 10. Cottrell said if the negotiations don't change, things could get worse.
"They are dragging this out purposely. Their attorney fees would probably cover the salaries of two or three teachers," he said. "If we can't get this settled, it could very well go toward a strike at the beginning of the next school year."

Is it a sign of things to come in the Los Altos School District? A special meeting has been scheduled around collective bargain agreement. Also unlike the Cupertino District, the Los Altos School District does not have 9M dollars in reserve.

Almond a California Distinguished school.... 20 years ago

The State of California recently released its list of Distinguished schools for 2008, and the only school in the Los Altos School District was .... Bullis Charter School .

The Los Altos School District (LASD) web site claims that "All of our schools are California Distinguished Schools". While it is true that all of our schools did once get the award, for most of them this wasn't recently. For instance, Almond school got that award ..... 20 years ago.