Category: Bullis Charter School

June 18, 2018: The Bullis board accomplished its four agendized tasks for this meeting: [1] On a third reading, the board unanimously approved its Local Control Accountability Plan. [2] At its second reading, the board unanimously approved its 2018-19 school budget; [3] It had a lengthy and thoughtful discussion about board officers. Noting that their governance structure is that of a corporation, should they continue with having one chairperson or have co-chairs? One chair is simpler for communications, but is a lot of work. The board tentatively agreed to perhaps have co-vice chairs in order to share that work. Current co-vice chair Ann Waterman Roy was appointed the new chair of BCS for its tentative July meeting. (Board chairperson John Phelps is stepping down from this position.) [4] The board discussed possible extra July and August meeting dates before their normal “start of the school year” board meeting the Monday before the start of school. That firm date is August 20^th.

     Re item #1, LCAP, the State of California utilizes a template for school districts to fill in and submit to their county offices of education. BCS describes itself this way: “BCS has a diverse student population with over 25 languages spoken, including Farsi, Vietnamese, Hindi, Finnish, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Greek, and Cantonese… Student demographics are as follows: Asian 49%, White 29%, Two or more Races 19%, Hispanic 4%, and African American 1%… All BCS students are expected to master or surpass rigorous, explicit Content and Performance Standards, and our staff has been trained to assess effectively each student’s academic and social emotional needs in order to provide programs enabling every child to maximize his/her individual abilities.” (Since LCAPs are long, complex documents, I am not going to include more detail. If people want to see the board-approved BCS LCAP in full, they may get it from BCS or from me.) 

     Re item #2, 2018/19 board budget report, their “ending fund balance” (including depreciation) for this school year is $1,139,525, with a reserve of 9.7%. School districts are required to submit three year budget plans to their county offices, so their 2018/19 preliminary budget is $1,157,606, with a reserve of 9.1%. Their 2019/20 projected budget is $1,181,642, with an 8.2% reserve, and their 2020/21 projected budget is $1,234,613, with a 7.9% reserve. (School districts are generally required to have at least a 3% reserve and commonly post a smaller reserve in the “out years.”) Their enrollment assumptions for staffing include one additional 8^th grade class in 2018/19 and one additional fulltime employee. Their assumed enrollment goes up from 898 students in 2017/18, to 912 in 2018/19, to 1066 in 2019/20, and 1134 in 2020/21.

     Bullis Charter School board meetings are held in Classroom 35 on its north campus next to Egan Jr. High. Two people called in to attend this meeting: board member Clara Roa (which was listed on the posted agenda) and Superintendent Principal Wanny Hersey. Two board members were absent from tonight’s meeting (Rich Tang and Francis La Poll) while the other six members were in attendance in the meeting room.

— Ellen Wheeler, Observer

Bullis Charter School

   March 5: Every year up and down the state school districts are required to prepare and submit their “Second Interim (financial) Report” for examination and approval by their board. After that board process, the Second Interim Report is sent to their County Office of Education. At this meeting the Bullis Charter School Board of Directors heard their Second Interim Report, asked questions, and then voted unanimously to approve it and send it on to the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Bullis Charter School contracts with an organization called edtec to prepare this report for them. Peter Taub of edtec made his company’s presentation to the board.

   Also at this meeting the board provided input on budget discussions that are under way for the 2018-19 budget. A few items of particular interest arose here: [1] Board members recommended that they budget for one or more assistant teachers for next year so that they have more flexibility when master teachers go out on family leaves in the middle of the year; [2] There are fewer students in grades 7 and 8 than they had planned for, so board members discussed options for that. One question was “Do we have a wait list for these grades?” The answer was no, because they are capped at 105 students for each grade per the Five Year Agreement with Los Altos School District. They hear from 105 students that they plan to attend next year, so budget for 105 students. But, students also apply to private schools, and if they get in, they sometimes drop their place at Bullis, resulting in a smaller 7^th or 8^th grade class than originally planned for.

     The Bullis Board of Directors also reviewed and voted to approve their Finance Committee’s recommendation for a new auditor for next year. That auditor is Vincenti, Lloyd, Stutzman LLP. This auditor was approved unanimously by the board.

     Lastly, another thing all schools in California are required to do every year is prepare, adopt, and submit a SARC (Student Accountability Report Card). SARCs are done via a state template. Categories in the template are: “About Our School” (a narrative description of the school and area), Contact Information, School Description and Mission Statement, Student Enrollment by Grade Level, Student Group (race, economically disadvantaged, English Learners, Students with Disabilities, and Foster Youth), Textbooks and Instructional Materials, School Facilities conditions, State Test Score Results grades 3 – 8 (and 10) by student group, types and levels of Parent Involvement, Average Class Size and Distribution, Academic Counselors/Support Staff, Expenditures Per Pupil and Teacher Salaries (compared to the state), and lastly, a narrative on Professional Development utilized by the school. (High schools also report on a few more items.) At this meeting the Bullis Board heard a presentation on their latest SARC and unanimously approved it.

   April 2: Three items of note were presented and discussed at this meeting. The report of item one is by Greg Coladonato, our LWV alternate BCS Observer. [1] A presentation was given by two teachers from Huff Elementary school in the Mountain View Whisman School District, who took part in BCS’s STEAM Practicum, in order to learn how to implement PBL + RTI at Huff. I believe there were five teachers from Huff who took part in this program. 

For context, BCS Superintendent Wanny Hersey explained that the STEAM Practicum has been a three year effort in partnership with the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s STEAM Team. 

The three approaches they mentioned trying to teach to their students were inquiry thinking, design thinking, and a growth mindset. They mentioned how amazed they were that 5 year olds were teaching their parents what it meant to be a dendrochronologist (their word usage!).

(STEAM is a popular acronym representing work in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. This is distinguished from typical STEM learning. “PBL” refers to Project Based Learning; “RTI” refers to Response to Instruction.)

[2] BCS learned that it has been selected as the only school in North America to be part of P21 Global Schools Network. It joins 14 other schools around the world who were carefully selected as school models that focus on global awareness, global competence, cultural competence, and linguistic development. [3] The BCS ad hoc nominating committee has been searching for and interviewing people to potentially fill the board positions of the four board members whose terms end in June. They’re looking for people who can add to the skill sets of the current board.

— Ellen Wheeler, Observer

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

   Of particular interest to our Leaguers were the following three items on this Regular Board Meeting agenda:

1. Report on Strategic Plan Action Team goal VI: We will positively impact more students through the strategic sharing and replication of our education model via Action Plan #1: “Open a nearby school in Santa Clara County that serves a high number of Free and Reduced Lunch Program-eligible students.” BCS has been researching other schools and districts who might be interested in having a second Bullis Charter School in their area. The search committee has widened their parameters to San Mateo County. The goal is to start an application process by March of 2019 and open the new school in fall of 2019. They are particularly looking at school districts from which they draw a lot of applicants already. It was noted that there are 1,000 students on the wait list for BCS. As part of this presentation the board members revisited a chart titled “Charter Governance Options” showing three different models. Discussion ensued about which model is better suited for BCS at this point in time in light of their desire to expand to a second school. This agenda item will come back to the board for further reports.
2. Facilities and Settlement Agreement with LASD update: Leaguers will remember that as part of the “Five Year Plan” between BCS and Los Altos School District there was an agreement for representatives from each entity to commence quarterly meetings to share information and requests. At tonight’s board meeting we heard the report of this latest quarterly meeting. A “big picture” takeaway is that people from both entities share that they are glad they are having these meetings and working together, and agreed that they are a good use of their time. A more nuts and bolts report followed describing the types of items that BCS requests of LASD at this point in time of their working relationship. For example, BCS kindergarten teachers want grass in their play area. LASD shared that they are going ahead with their solar projects over the parking lots of their schools, so folks should be aware of temporary loss of parking spaces. At this quarterly meeting the participants set the dates of their meetings for this school year.
3. Speaking of the “Five Year Plan,” available at this meeting were the original agreement documents dated June and July of 2014. At this meeting the board selected their team members to work on the next steps of this agreement. Long-time BCS board members Francis La Poll and Andrea Eyring will be joined by newer board member Rich Ying on this committee. Doing the math, the Five Year Plan is in effect until 2019, so BCS and LASD are more than half way through it, hence the need for next steps planning. This agenda item will come back to the board for further reports.

— Ellen Wheeler, Observer

BULLIS CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD MEETING MAY 15, 2017

There were four items on this board agenda of particular interest to the League of Women Voters of Los Altos-Mountain View Area:

1. BCS LCAP 2017-2018.  Every school district in California is required to fill out a form of their Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), present it to their board, and submit it to their county office of education. Cynthia Brietson, Principal/Director of Educational Services for Bullis Charter School, described at length the highly detailed form requirements that continue from year to year so that they can compare their progress over time. This time she could point to the brand new “state report card” that all schools and districts are compared by. This new system is meant to show a “dashboard” of colors, with blue rankings the highest possible, next green, next yellow, next orange, and finally red. Principal Brietsen was able to show the BCS board members that BCS scores “blue” in all the reported categories. Since BCS is all blue, the key for them now is to focus on fidelity, meaning they should continue with the programs, processes, teaching, and parent involvement that make BCS a successful school. One specific recommendation was to continue with professional development for their teachers and staff.
2. With two BCS board members leaving the board at the end of their term the Ad Hoc Nominating Committee searched and interviewed interested new board members. Nominating Committee Chair David Jaques described their recommended choices; the board will vote to approve them at the next board meeting. Expressions of appreciation were extended to departing board members Jennifer Carolan and Tom Dennedy.
3. Board members all over the region are grappling with the high cost of housing as they work to attract and retain quality teachers and staff. At tonight’s board meeting the board heard a presentation on teacher housing issues and options by Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, Deputy Superintendent of the Santa Clara Office of Education. In addition to this presentation Dr. Dewan also alerted the board members of two potential options to help teachers with their down payment for a home in the Bay Area. One option is via a start-up called Landed. (Los Altos School District and Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District are also looking into the Landed investment model.) Another potential option is AB 1182 (Evan Low) which would help provide a down payment for teachers in high cost counties who teach in the fields of bilingual education, STEM, or special education. (This bill is currently in the Appropriations Committee. LWVC has not taken a position on this bill since it doesn’t cover all of California.)
4. Board members heard a presentation by Betsy Nikolchev, Executive Director of the Foothill College Family Engagement Institute, on “Stretch to Kindergarten.” STK is a tuition-free six plus week pre-K spring/summer program for underserved families that operates in many local school districts including at Bullis Charter School. The priority for enrollment is for children who have not attended a quality preschool and who come from low income families. There’s a strong parent education component as well as providing internships for youth interested in this field. The STK class of 2017 has 16 children enrolled, 14 of which are Spanish speaking. These children are from Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, East Palo Alto, and Oak Grove School District in San Jose.

— Ellen Wheeler, Observer

BULLIS CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING JANUARY 30, 2017

It’s nice to be back! Thank you to League of Women Voters, Los Altos-Mountain View for reconstituting our Voter so our Observers have a venue for reporting out the work of our public entities. Below is my summary of agenda items from Bullis Charter School that are relevant to League positions and philosophy.

1. SARC Report: By February of each year, every school in California is required by state law to publish its School Accountability Report Card (SARC). SARCs now utilize the structure laid out by the state’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). SARCs continue to list student and school data for their own schools compared to the county and to the state. (One question by BCS was “what is the district referred to in this report?” “District” in SARC terms is Santa Clara County, not Los Altos School District.) Bullis continues to do well compared to Santa Clara County and California via all measurements on the SARC. (See bullischarterschool.com for more information or phone 650-947-4100. I also have a paper copy of their SARC since it was available for attendees at this meeting.)

2. Santa Clara County Office of Education Oversight Checklist Summary Report: The board was presented with the January 26, 2017, letter from SCCOE Superintendent Jon Gundry which summarized their evaluation of annual checklist items: Governance/School Operations and Management; Enrollment/Demographics/Parent Participation/Instruction; Student Performance; Financial Reporting; and Human Resources. Each segment seemed fine. Superintendent Gundry stated the following: “Bullis staff is to be commended for their active review of student performance and the fostering of a culture that allows parents to proactively support their students.” (This letter with its checklist was available for attendees at this meeting and I have a copy of it.)

3. Brown Act and Governance Best Practices Training: One difference between charter schools and traditional school districts is that charter boards are required to receive annual training in the Brown Act (the state open meeting law) whereas such training is often not presented to or taken by traditional school boards. The BCS board heard a detailed PowerPoint presentation by John Lemmo of Procopio LLC about Brown Act requirements and the rationale for the Brown Act. Most of the Brown Act laws are the same for all public entities in California such as notice for meetings, quorum, the public nature of decision making, etc. This presentation lasted about one hour and the board seemed alert and interested, asking many questions along the way.

4. Open Enrollment Update: With the end of open enrollment for BCS and LASD one week away, the board heard preliminary numbers showing that enrollment requests are up over last year.

Board member Joe Hurd attended this entire meeting remotely (by phone). Also in attendance were Board Chair John Phelps, Andrea Eyring, David Jacques, Francis La Poll, Ann Waterman Roy, and Rich Ying, as well as principal/superintendent Wanny Hersey. Absent were Jennifer Carolan and Tom Dennedy.

—Ellen Wheeler, Observer