While I fully anticipate discussions about the 10th site will take up a good portion of the evening, there are, in fact, other topics on the agenda.
This week, closed session begins at 5:30pm. The board will reconvene for open session starting around 7pm in the LASD Board Room at 201 Covington Rd. The entire agenda can be found here. We will start our evening with Supervisor Simitian's Proposal for Affordable Teacher Housing in Palo Alto. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has voted to set aside a plot of land owned by the county on Grant Avenue, as well as $6 million in affordable housing funds to ensure that there is both a 1.5 acre site and partial funding available to support the project for below market housing for teachers and public servants in the area. The Board of Supervisors is asking that LASD and other school districts and cities in the area contribute funds to the cause too. This is an action item and Supervisor Simitian's proposal can be found under agenda H.1 using link found above. Supervisor Simitian at this point is only asking whether LASD is interested and not to commit funds at this time. Next up is a presentation regarding the 10th School Site from Jeff Baier. This is a discussion item and no action will be taken. His presentation can be found under agenda item H.2. If you read one thing, this is the presentation to read. Or better yet, come and hear it for yourself and provide us input! The presentation starts with a thorough history of task forces, advisory committees, planning committees and community forums (online and in-person) LASD has convened since 2012 to study the need for a 10th site and the data uncovered, patterns that emerged, and the recommendations and opinions made as results of them. With this exercise, 3 options for the 10th site rose to the top and they include: (1) place BCS at the 10th site, (2) place neighborhood school at 10th site, and (3) don't purchase a 10th site and reconfigure existing schools/sites. According to patterns of community input that emerged over the years, in debating these options the board should consider the following important factors: (1) traffic, (2) school overcrowding and future/long term growth, (3) flexibility over time, (4) cost (both operationally and construction), and (5) community impact and benefits. The presentation then methodically and systematically goes through all three options (and sub options) and considers the pros and cons of each option as it relates to the important factors. After this presentation, we welcome your comments. There will be no action, but we welcome your input while we consider what is right for the all the students that are educated in the boundaries of LASD and what is the best for the community as a whole. We have no easy task in front of us. Then, please stay and watch as we consider and determine whether all LASD students are are provided with sufficient textbooks and instructional materials and make a Statement of Assurances on Textbooks pursuant to Education Code Section 60119 based on a presentation from Sandra McGonagle. This is a discussion and an action item under agenda items H.3 and and H.4. A copy of the resolution can be found under agenda item H.4. Lastly, the board is asked by Randy Kenyon again to approve Renewal of Joint Use Agreements and Findings Regarding Joint Use Agreements with 5 childcare/preschool providers located on LASD campuses. This is an action item and the leases for the five preschools/childcare providers may be found under agenda item H.5. Based on discussion and direction from the board at the last meeting, Randy is proposing we approve leases for each of these 5 providers until July 2019 (instead of a 5 year lease). Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 9/24/2018 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions. Closed session begins at 5:30pm and the board will reconvene for open session starting around 7pm in the LASD Board Room at 201 Covington Rd. The entire agenda can be found here.
We start the evening with a presentation by Sandra McGonagle regarding Summer School. This is a discussion item and no action will be taken. Her presentation can be found under agenda item H.1 using the link found above. My preliminary review of the report shows that the district definitely moved the needle for a majority of the students who attended. However, the report does also show that there is more work to be done (33 of 120 students that were served by summer school made no progression in their reading proficiency). I look forward to hearing more from Sandra on Monday night. Next up is the presentation of the ThoughtExchange Final Report by Jeff Baier and the professionals from ThoughtExchange. This is a discussion item and no action will be taken. The presentation can be found under agenda item H.2 using the link found above. It is well worth a night out at a board meeting to come listen to this presentation to understand "what are some perspectives we need to consider as we make decisions about the new school in our community" from 1,012 community members from across the district and some outside the district. But wait, there is more... Jeff Baier, along with Manny Barbara of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, will present the 10th Site Task Force Final Report. This is a discussion item and no action will be taken. The presentation and supporting documentation used by the Task Force can be found under agenda item H.3. There was not incredibly strong consensus from the Task Force regarding how the 10th site should used by the district. The group did have a stronger preference for placing BCS at the 10th site with 6 out of 9 Task Force members making it their first choice. Those six members were Tom McGovern (from Los Altos), Lara Dietz (from Springer area of Mountain View), James Reilly (LASD parent and from NEC area of Mountain View), Raquel Matteroli (Principal of Almond School), Sandra McGonagle (Assistant Superintendent) and Joe Seither (former LASD parent and Los Altos resident). A neighborhood school was the first choice of one Task Force member (Mountain View City Council Member Margaret Abe-Koga) and moving Egan to the 10th site and giving current Egan campus to BCS was the first choice of two Task Force members (BCS parents Anthony Shortland (from NEC area of Mountain View) and Jill Jene (from Los Altos). If Financial Updates are your passion, I suggest you stay to hear Randy Kenyon give the Board his presentation of the 2017/2018 Unaudited Revenue and Expenditures. This is an action item and Randy's presentation and the thrilling 2017/2018 Unaudited Revenue and Expenditures Report can be found under agenda item H.4. Randy asks the board to approve the Report so that it may be filed with the County by September 15th. According to Randy, at a high level, the district had revenues (received) of $66 million and had expenditures (spent) of $66.1 million in the General Fund. This left $1.04 million in the General Fund Reserves and a total of 4.78 million in the total Reserves (7.25% of the district expenditures, compared to 8.01% projected in June 2018). Just when you thought Randy was out, we will pull him back in to present the Annual Developer Fee Report. This is a discussion item and no action will be taken. The report can be found under agenda item H.5. According to Randy's report, the developer fees collected last school year is significantly higher than years prior. I look forward to hearing what is the cause of the jump. Next, the board is asked to approve Renewal of Joint Use Agreements and Findings Regarding Joint Use Agreements with 5 childcare/preschool providers located on LASD campuses. This is an action item and the leases for the five preschools/childcare providers may be found under agenda item H.6. The Joint Use Agreements are for: (1) Los Altos Parent Preschool (Covington); (2) KU Champions (Covington); (3) Children's House (Gardner Bullis); (4) Abracadabra (Springer); and (5) KU Champions (Santa Rita). Prior to approving/renewing the Joint Use Agreements, the board is asked to consider approving the following findings: the Joint Use Agreements and Amendments to Joint Use Agreements will not: (a) interfere with the educational program or activities of any District school or class conducted on the property; (b) unduly disrupt the residents of the surrounding neighborhood; and (c) jeopardize the safety of the children at the property. Last, but not least, Jeff will present a Resolution Opposing Measure C. This is an action item and the resolution can be found her agenda item H.7. The resolution maintains that (1) Measure C will constraint City-owned property and may impact collaborations between the District and the City and will limit the benefits from such collaborations and (2) Measure C is likely to negatively impact property tax revenues essential to the District. Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 9/10/2018 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions. |
Jessica SpeiserThanks to your support, I joined the Los Altos School District (LASD) Board of Trustees in December 2016. I finished my tenure as Board President after serving as such from December 2018 to December 2019. I am currently Board Vice President. As usual, I will use this blog to continue updating you on upcoming Board meetings and make you aware of upcoming office hours and community events. Archives
May 2024
Categories |