Bullis Charter School

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Bullis Charter School (BCS) is a public charter school located in Los Altos, California for grades kindergarten through grade six. As of 2006, the school's enrollment is about 230 students and has a stated limit of 310.^[1] As the Santa Clara County Office of Education has chartered the school, BCS operates independently of the Los Altos School District (LASD).

On September 3, 2003, the Santa Clara Office of Education approved the school charter and became the sponsoring agency of BCS.

On March 15, 2004, the LASD offered the portable classrooms at Egan middle school to the BCS.^[2] BCS accepted and has been located there ever since.

At the end of 2006, Bullis Charter School was the highest-scoring California charter school and ranked among the top 1 percent of all schools in the state.^[3]

On February 21, 2007, the Santa Clara County Board of Education approved the renewal of the BCS charter for five more years in a 6-0 vote.^[4]

[edit] Controversy

The origin of Bullis Charter School (BCS) has engendered its share of controversy. Some in the LASD community believe that BCS was founded in an effort to establish a public school within Los Altos Hills, while others believe that BCS exists to offer innovative programs and a curriculum that differs from what is offered in other LASD elementary schools.

The truth of the founding and continued existence of Bullis Charter School is now a mixture of both. Bullis Charter School was established by a group of interested parents and other parties meeting in Los Altos Hills in response to the decison of Feb 10, 2003 by the Los Altos School District (LASD) Board to close Bullis Elementary School in Los Altos Hills. Early meetings (e.g October 19, 2003 and October 26, 2003) of the Bullis Charter School Board took place at the Los Altos Hills Town Hall. The initial motivation of the founding members was to bring a public charter school back to Los Altos Hills. Without the closure of the Bullis public school in Los Altos Hills, the BCS would have never come into existence. However, as the school project developed support came from individuals interested in supporting alternative schools for their own right, and after the school had been in existence, the actual benefits of a self selected school in a already highly affluent school district created demand for the continued existence of the school regardless of the absence or presence of a public school in Los Altos Hills. With the planned reopening of a public Bullis Elementary School by the Los Altos School District at the Bullis site in Los Altos Hills in August 2008, this evolution will probably continue. If it does not, and the vital philanthropic financial support needed for BCS to exists turns out only to be present for the purpose of returning an elementary school to Los Altos Hills, then the Bullis Charter School will cease to exist. However its very existence in the center of one of the most highly rated school districts (the LASD) in California is serving as a model of succes and impetus for others interested in the creation of other Charter schools in Silicon Valley. Just as the parents of Los Altos Hills felt disenfranchised by the lack of responsiveness from the Los Altos School Board to their needs, other similarly educated, affluent parents in Silicon Valley have begun to feel the same. In particular grass roots effort are now occurring for the establishment of a Chinese Language immersion Charter School in Palo Alto, and for other neighborhood specific Charter Schools in the Los Altos School District as ongoing redistricting of the LASD negatively affects some communities with loss of neighborhood schools and altered demographics.

Those who believe BCS was created to establish a public school in Los Altos Hills present the following evidence:

BCS was created immediately after the LASD announced it was closing the Bullis-Purissima site.^[5]
BCS used the name of the closed school (Bullis) as the name of their charter.
BCS specifically asked the LASD for the Bullis-Purrisima site as soon as they reached their enrollment requirement.^[6]
Craig Jones, the head of BCS, said," the charter school group is determined to open a school at Bullis and is prepared to appeal the matter to the county and the state if it gets that far." on 03/28/2003.^[7]
BCS sued the LASD after they were given portable classrooms on the Egan school grounds instead of the Bullis-Purissima.^[8] The charter claimed these portables did not meet the "reasonably equivalent" requirement described in section 6b of Proposition 39.
LASD determined the unrennovated Bullis-Purissima site did not meet Prop 39's "reasonably equivalent" requirement. However, BCS offered to drop the lawsuit and waive the requirement if they were given the Bullis-Purrisima site.^[9]
BCS offered to lease the site from the LASD, and also attempted to buy the site outright.^[10]
The Los Altos Hills city council considered spending $2.5 million to help BCS purchase a site in Los Altos Hills.^[11]

In June 2006, LASD unanimously voted to re-open the Bullis-Purrisima site as a public school in the district for the start of the 2008 school year,^[12] eliminating the possibility that BCS will gain access to the site.

Some of those who support the school base their support on the following information:

They believe that the BCS educational offering is significantly different from what is currently available in the LASD and that it provides unique and innovative programs and curriculum. Because BCS is a small school and is supported by a highly unified and motivated group of parents, teachers and administrators, it offers the perfect environment for testing innovative teaching techniques and does so in a way that isn’t practical in a larger public school environment. In 3 years BCS has used this opportunity to achieve much. Many supporters find the following information about the school important:

Nationally recognized for best practices in education and has been named the "number 1 charter school in California"
WASC accredited
Tailored learning plans meet the needs of every individual child
Art, music, drama, technology & P.E. classes as part of the standard class week
In-depth age-appropriate environmental studies at all grade levels ranging from sustainable cooking practices to the conservation of sea turtles
Weekly elective classes allow children to pursue their special interests and interact with classmates from different grade-levels
Focus on the long-range learning, rather than on the immediate A or F on a report card or on test scores
Character development curriculum for all grades