Facilities Master Plan and BCS Renewal

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The Monday, August 19, 2024, LASD Board meeting will start its open session at 7:00pm and contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the LASD Board Room. We use the Zoom webinar platform for community members to follow our meetings at home. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the LASD Board to consider in its decision making, please email all of us at [email protected].  To register to watch the board meeting from the comfort of your home, click here.  The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this week's meeting can be found here.

First up on the agenda, Superintendent Sandra McGonagle and staff will give a School Opening Update.  This is a discussion item and her presentation can be found under agenda item H.1.  Across all campuses, there has been a hopeful energy with tons of community building and excitement to dig deep into learning this school year.  

Then, Gregory Drummond will give a Strategic Actions Progress Update.  This is a discussion item and his presentation can be found under agenda item H.2.  The District is focused in Deeper Learning this school year, focusing on the "Rich Learning Experiences" and "Development of Skills, Mindsets, and Habits" of the LASD Student Experience Wheel.  LASD students will truly learning the content they need to know, along with executive functioning skills needed to succeed not only in school, but in life. 

Next, Erik Walukiewicz will present the Facilities Master Plan Draft for review.  This is a discussion item, and the draft can be found under agenda item H.3.  The District engaged with CAW Architects to do an extensive assessment of facilities across the district including data collection, site tours, online surveys, focus groups, and community outreach, and then instill that into master plan for facilities in the district.  I highly recommend your reading it yourself, as it is pretty exhaustive and honestly too much for me to summarize in a meaningful way for you.  

Lastly, the Board will be given a chance to openly discuss the Bullis Charter School (BCS) Renewal Update.  As discussed before, On 7/17/24, BCS had its charter renewal hearing where the SCCOE, BCS, and LASD all had 10 minutes to speak regarding the matter. At that same hearing there was lots of public comment followed by lots of questions, comments, and requests for more information from both LASD and BCS made by the Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE).  LASD submitted responses to those requests with all the data requested.  BCS sent the SCCOE marketing material and stated the data was not needed by the SCCOE/SCCBOE and that they lacked the capacity to get the data to them.  On August 16th, as required by law and in preparation for the SCCBOE's renewal decision hearing scheduled for August 26th, the SCCOE's Charter Department published its renewal decision recommendation.  You can find that recommendation here. In short, the SCCOE Charter Schools Department, even though it found BCS's charter renewal documentation and presentation deficient and not responsive to their Notice of Concern, recommended the SCCBOE approve renewal of BCS for 5 years (not 7 years) conditioned on them executing an MOU with the County Superintendent of Schools with many requirements for said MOU outlined.  

Please note, these are just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 8/19/24 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.