By Lauren McSherry and Joan Garvin

Three short sentences in a letter from the Los Altos City Council to the Los Altos Hills City Council, denying a request made by the latter, generated a debate within the Los Altos council that could fill volumes.

In a March 4 letter, Mayor Mike O’Malley, on behalf of the Hills council, asked for a resolution of support for returning public education to the Hills.

The request triggered extended debate during a regular meeting of the Los Altos council March 22. The incident was unusual for such pro forma action.

O’Malley’s letter asked the Los Altos council to back his council’s efforts to bring the charter school to the former Bullis-Purissima School site.

When the Los Altos School District closed Bullis in 2003 - transferring about 218 students to schools within Los Altos city boundaries - Los Altos Hills lost its last remaining public school.

The school district has declined to lease the closed school site to the new charter school formed in response.

Los Altos Mayor David Casas drafted a succinct, three-sentence letter declining the request.

“I believe in being direct and clear,” to reduce any risk of misinterpretation, Casas told the Town Crier.

When the Los Altos council discussed the draft, their detailed scrutiny reflected the intensity of the conflict over the Bullis site.

There was consensus on the message, but concern that the conciseness might seem abrupt.

“We’re not taking any sides,” said Councilman King Lear. There is “nothing I can think of that we can say as city council.”

Councilman John Moss agreed that he was not “prepared to tell the Los Altos School District to turn over the site.”

But “(We) don’t want to insult the other” council, said Lear.

Councilman Curtis Cole said the council has to have a relationship with neighboring cities as well as looking out for all citizens.

“The letter, as drafted, is a little cold and a little too blunt for me,” said Councilman Ron Packard.

He offered to revise the second paragraph to soften its tone.

The council agreed that Packard should send a modified letter to Casas, who would have the option of accepting the revision or sending the original to the Hills council.

The amplified letter, sent to the Hills council, adds an explanation for the Los Altos council’s decision: “As we are not involved in the details of those very factors, and do not consider the issue to be within our jurisdictional mandate, we feel it would be inappropriate for the City of Los Altos to insert itself into the affairs of the (school district) Board of Trustees.”

Although none of the council’s public discussion referred directly to it, this response invokes the guidelines passed several weeks ago prohibiting the Los Altos council from passing political resolutions that do not directly involve the city.

This was the first request for a resolution since the new guidelines went into effect.

Some crossover exists between the school district and the council.

Casas and Moss served on the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees before their election to the council.