Start of School Pushed to Deadline at Bullis Charter School

Unexpected delays and the addition of a new grade level have led Bullis Charter School’s classrooms and campus to be unprepared for teachers even on the cusp of the new school year.

The charter school (BCS) added an eighth grade this year as well as a . But as of Monday, two days before the start of school on Wednesday, asphalt was still being laid out, teachers were not allowed into some classrooms to set up, and much of the furniture was not set up, according to Marie Stuart, assistant superintendent and principal at BCS who spoke at Monday’s board meeting.

John Radford, Los Altos Hills town councilman, argued at the board meeting that it is unfair that the charter school is not ready for the start of school.

“I don’t know if it’s bad luck, incompetence or intentionally disregarding the charter,” Radford said. “It’s an insult to not have that school ready for the start of school when all the others are. It’s embarrassing.” 

Randall Kenyon, the district's assistant superintendent of business services, chimed in to add information about the charter’s agreement.

“Part of our agreement with them is that we will have the buildings ready ten days before the start of school,” Kenyon said. “But some things were unforeseen and some of our buildings at two of our campuses weren’t ready ten days before either.”

Radford returned to the meeting and apologized for using the word “incompetence” but was still adamant about getting through the situation.

“Let me apologize for being over the top," said Radford. "But at the same time when I think of my children in the hills and I look at Gardner Bullis and then I look at BCS, it’s embarrassing to think that those two schools are equivalent by any definition by anybody."

The charter school, which operates on the Egan Jr. High School grounds, was granted a in March for the coming school year. The offer included one additional portable building for a teaching classroom, two additional non-teaching spaces and two hours a week for use of the track, gym and tennis courts at the , according to Randall Kenyon, the district's assistant superintendent of business services.

But, because the current library was deemed non-compliant, the district agreed to change its facilities offer to comply with an approved library, which would be the size of one-and-a-half portables, instead of one, amounting to 1,440 square feet, instead of 960 square feet, according to Smith.

Kenyon said at the board meeting that the district did not know its own classroom loading until the end of the school year due to budget issues. 

The delay that has happened at BCS is partly due to “the timing of when we made a decision about classroom loading," said Kenyon. "Then we had to wait for inspections, then we had soil problems beneath the portables."

“It’s unfortunate for the staff over there but we have the same issue for the staff at Springer and Santa Rita with their portables,” he added.

Furthermore, he said, the desks brought in from Egan to the charter school were found to be in poor condition and the district is replacing them before the start of school.

The opened in 2004 and is entitled to “reasonably equivalent” facilities under Proposition 39, a 2000 initiative that required, among other changes, that charter schools be provided facilities by public school districts. This means that the loading size of other LASD schools determine the number of facilities given to BCS.

“As of Tuesday morning, the day before school starts, the seventh and eighth grade classrooms did not have electricity,” said Anne Marie Gallagher, a BCS board member. “I understand at other LASD schools, they don’t have all their portables in but it’s a little different when it’s our entire middle school.” 

Gallagher said she has “full confidence” that the start of school will commence as normal but the situation “is unfortunate because it’s very stressful for the teachers.”

She said the teachers and staff will probably work late the day before to make sure that will happen.

“We’re sympathetic that there can be surprises but if you’re aiming to make that 10-day window, you have a lot of margin to deal with surprises,” Gallagher said.  “I’m really focused on our commitment to the children to deliver a quality education and I feel like this doesn’t help.”

Doug Smith, board member and clerk on the Los Altos School District , said it is “unfortunate” this is so close to the start of school but that the district has done everything it can.

Smith said it takes a lot of time to even get an appointment for an inspection, and with classroom loading not known until late in the game, the whole process got pushed back.

All nine Los Altos elementary and junior high schools, and the charter school, begin the 2011/12 school year Wednesday, August 17 regardless of the portable situations.