Bullis Charter School
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| Bullis Charter School | |
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"Inspiring the Individual"
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| Address | |
| 102 West Portola Ave. Los Altos, California, 94022 United States |
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| Coordinates | 37°23′48″N 122°06′56″W / 37.396800°N 122.115499°WCoordinates: 37°23′48″N 122°06′56″W / 37.396800°N 122.115499°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public Charter |
| Established | 2003 |
| School district | Santa Clara County Office of Education |
| Principal | Wanny Hersey |
| Vice principal | Marie Stuart |
| Faculty | 45 |
| Grades | K - 8 |
| Enrollment | Approx. 460 |
| Campus type | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Yellow & Blue |
| Mascot | Bear |
| Website | www.bullischarterschool.com |
Bullis Charter School (BCS) is a public charter school located in Los Altos, California, USA, for grades kindergarten through eighth. As the Santa Clara County Office of Education charters the school, BCS operates independently of the Los Altos School District (LASD). BCS differentiates itself from the LASD schools by providing "Focused Learning Goals", full-time teaching specialists in the arts and sciences, a comprehensive foreign language program (Mandarin), and optional after-school activities.
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[edit] History
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011) |
BCS was founded by local residents as a reaction to the decision of 10 February 2003 by the Los Altos School District (LASD) Board to close Bullis Elementary School in Los Altos Hills (this school later re-opened as Gardner Bullis School in 2008).
Because of the nature of the school's origin, the background and motivation behind the school's creation are an important part of its history. The exclusive driver, as mentioned, was the closure of the local public school. The reasons given by the local school district for the closure were low attendance and budget. This was in the context of Los Altos Hills parents assisting in the campaign to pass a $100M bond measure to upgrade all seven of the LASD schools, which included a dollar amount and plans for the renovation of the Bullis Elementary School campus (now occupied by Gardner Bullis).
Two weeks after the bond measure passed, LASD announced that there would not be enough money for the renovation of the Bullis campus, and that Bullis would have to be closed.[citation needed] First on the list of construction projects funded by the bond measure was the conversion of the closed Covington Middle School into a new $5M District office, and a new seventh elementary school, Covington Elementary School.[citation needed] These actions further confused and in some cases infuriated residents of Los Altos Hills who had worked overtly to get a bond passed to help the school in their neighborhood in particular.
Los Altos Hills residents formed committees to explore options to re-open the local public school site which had been closed, including curriculum development, Principal search, site search, and legal issues.[citation needed]
Although it has been said that the original idea of a Charter School was suggested by the superintendent of LASD[citation needed], the move was fought bitterly by the school district (perhaps because there were already plans to re-open the local public school but the actual reasons are still unclear). Without support from the local school district, residents appealed to the County of Santa Clara to charter the new school, which proved successful. The school is now chartered, then, by the County.
Early meetings of the Bullis Charter School Board took place at the Los Altos Hills Town Hall and in the multi-purpose room of the then-closed Bullis school site to find a site for the new school. None of the four school sites that the town had donated for public education was currently used for that purpose. One had been sold and developed as housing. One was leased at sub-market rents with the option to purchase for $1 after 30 years.[citation needed] One is still leased to the private Pinewood School. Citing a newly minted clause in Proposition 39, the committees decided to petition the district for facilities in which to locate their school.
The school now resides in a location shared with Egan Junior High School, an LASD school. This location is viewed by many as "temporary" and not as desirable as existing LASD school campuses. However, as LASD only has active school campuses with regular attendance, there is no campus readily available for the charter school.
Now that the school exists along side of the original school it was intended to replace, the justification for the school's existence is a constant challenge for its Board and personnel. While some agree that there should be an "alternative" approach to education in the area, many question the need for this in a district which is already considered high performing. Despite the skepticism, BCS continues to exist offering a differentiated curriculum from what is offered in the nearby LASD elementary and middle schools.[citation needed]
[edit] Timeline
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 Junior High School to BCS beginning on May 1, 2004.[1] BCS accepted and has been located there ever since.
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.[2]
On April 9, 2008, BCS was given a California Distinguished School Award.[3]
In 2008, BCS was granted WASC Accreditation.[4]
In November 2008, the Santa Clara County Board of Education ruled that BCS can add a 7th and 8th grade.[5]
In August 2010, BCS opened its doors to their first ever 7th grade class, offering an alternative to the traditional middle school experience with Project-Based Learning, Multi-Disciplinary Intersessions, and block scheduling.[6]
[edit] Academic performance
Since its inception, BCS has consistently been the highest-scoring charter school of over 650 in the state of California. By the end of 2006, BCS was also ranked among the top 1 percent of all schools in the state.[7] BCS' California Academic Performance Index (API) scores* since 2005 have remained consistently above average (the lowest being 960). Although this is outstanding performance, it is not significantly better than the public schools in LASD (see chart below for comparison with to the Los Altos School District average).
BCS's 2011 API score was 984 while those of Covington Elementary and Oak Elementary which also draw students from the more affluent neighborhoods of Los Altos, were 983 [8] .
| Year | BCS Score | LASD Average | Differential |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 970[9] | 949[10] | ~2% |
| 2006 | 960[11] | 960[12] | (none) |
| 2007 | 972[13] | 954[14] | ~2% |
| 2008 | 967[15] | 956[16] | ~1% |
| 2009 | 971[17] | 959[18] | ~1% |
| 2010 | 988[19] | 965[20] | ~2% |
| 2011 | 984[21] | 969[22] | ~2% |
* The API is a number ranging from 200 to 1,000, with a higher number being better.
[edit] Differentiation from Surrounding Public Schools
Bullis Charter School personnel say that "innovation has always been a part of the fabric of school". One differentiation is its Individual Learning Plans which later became known as "Focused Learning Goals". Another is full-time teaching specialists in the arts and sciences, and a foreign language program (Mandarin) taught as a requirement from kindergarten to sixth grade, and a curriculum featuring co-curricular classes and optional after-school extra-curricular activities.
BCS has seen some of its approaches mimicked by Silicon Valley charter schools. In particular, grass roots efforts are now occurring for the establishment of a Chinese Language immersion Charter School in Palo Alto.[citation needed]
Unlike traditional public schools (and like other Charter schools), anyone in the state of California can submit an application to attend BCS each academic year. If there are more applications than there are spots available for students, then, by law, there is a lottery to determine who is admitted. [23] According to the school's enrollment procedures found on their website, enrollment preferences (which are authorized by the Santa Clara County Office of Education) are applied based on a prescribed hierarchy within each grade level. [24] This preference also gives children from affluent parts Los Altos Hills special priority, which has been a source of some controversy.[25] It also has the ability to ask students who are unable to meet its standards to leave the school.[citation needed] The percentage of English Language Learners for BCS' student population, compared to LASD'S overall average of 8%, is 1%.[26]In spite of these factors, the API scores of BCS are not significantly higher than that of the LASD public schools (see scores above).
[edit] References
- ^ Acuff, Kathleen (2004-04-07). "Egan camp LASD's final offer to charter school". Los Altos Online (Los Altos Town Crier). http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12310&Itemid=56. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
- ^ "February 21, 2007 minutes" (PDF). Santa Clara County Board of Education. 2007-02-21. http://www.sccoe.k12.ca.us/supandboard/agendaminutes/2006-07/02-21-07minutes.pdf.
- ^ "Bullis Charter School named California Distinguished School". Los Altos Online (Los Altos Town Crier). 2008-04-23. http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15800&Itemid=56.
- ^ http://www.acswasc.org/directory_searchdetail.cfm?O=5893&Schl=Bullis&City=&Cat=0&Cnty=0&SchoolCat=Charter%20School&Name=Bullis%20Charter%20School&Page=1
- ^ Weiss, Casey (2008-11-23). "Bullis allowed to expand". Mountain View Online (Mountain View Voice). http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=1022. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ Newell, Traci (2010-09-14). "Bullis offers alternative seventh-grade experience". Los Altos Online (Los Altos Town Crier). http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22191&Itemid=56. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ "BCS chosen for public awareness campaign". Los Altos Online (Los Altos Town Crier). 2006-11-29. http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14501&Itemid=56.
- ^ "California Department of Education, API School Level Reports". http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/apireports.asp.
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2005/2005APRSchAYPReport.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/APIBase2006/2005Base_DstAPI.aspx?cYear=2004-05&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2004BApiD
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2006/2006APRSchAYPReport.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2007/2006Base_DstAPI.aspx?cYear=2006-07&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2006BApiD
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2007/2007APRSchAYPReport.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2007Base_DstAPI.aspx?cYear=2007-08&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2007BApiD
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2008APRSchAYPReport.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2008Base_DstAPI.aspx?cYear=2008-09&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2008BApiD
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2009/2009APRSchAYPReport.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2010/2009Base_DstAPI.aspx?cYear=2009-10&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2009BApiD
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2010/2010APRSchAYPReport.aspx?cYear=2005-06&allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/Acnt2011/2010Base_DstAPI.aspx?cYear=2010-11&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2009BApiD
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/Acnt2011/2011GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=43104390106534
- ^ http://api.cde.ca.gov/Acnt2011/2011GrowthDstApi.aspx?cYear=&allcds=4369518&cChoice=2011GDst2
- ^ "California Charter Schools Association: Understanding Charters - FAQs". http://www.calcharters.org/understanding/faqs/.
- ^ "Bullis Charter School - Enrollment FAQs". http://www.bullischarterschool.com/site/Default.aspx?PageID=110#4.
- ^ "Taxpayers Get Billed for Kids of Millionaires at Charter School". Bloomberg News. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-25/taxpayers-get-billed-for-kids-of-millionaires-at-charter-school.html.
- ^ "Annual Charter School Report to the Santa Clara County Board of Education 2011-2012". http://www.sccoe.org/depts/charter/docs/reports/2011-12%20Bullis%20Charter%20School%20Annual%20Report.pdf.
