Bullis might reopen as magnet in two years

By Kathleen Acuff, Town Crier Staff Writer

Bullis-Purissima Elementary School stood empty in March 2004.

Reopening Bullis-Purissima as an elementary school is once again under discussion by staff and trustees of the Los Altos School District, as it has been each fall since the school closed in June 2003. But this time, it just might happen.

At last week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Tim Justus presented a “very preliminary” proposal for a K-6 school to open in fall 2007 with an innovative instructional program to draw about 225 students from across the district.

“I see this program as wide open,” Justus said.

The open enrollment model is to avoid changing school boundaries again. Internal district boundaries were redrawn in 1999 and took effect when Covington reopened in 2003. When the district closed the last public school in Los Altos Hills in June 2003, Bullis students were redirected to Covington, and the emotional toll on the students, parents and faculties of Bullis and Covington schools was high.

Open enrollment for a seventh elementary school where the fewest number of district students live would enable several already crowded schools to breathe more freely. Parents would request an intradistrict transfer for their children to attend Bullis. Class-size reduction in kindergarten through third grade would still apply at the reopened school, and higher grades would be limited to 30 students per class.

Justus suggested “something new in instructional programs,” such as the International Baccalaureate Program’s “concept-driven inquiry” method or Apple Computer’s technology-aided One-on-One Learning. The superintendent is clearly drawn to the use of technology in teaching: The district’s principals are to take an Apple workshop, possibly in November, Justus said last Thursday.

Regardless of the teaching method used, Bullis will use the same state-aligned curriculum as the six current elementary schools, he said. The model he has in mind is Freestyle High, the multimedia academy opening next fall in the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District that will integrate technology into teaching.

“Students are coming to us wired differently. We want to look ahead to how they learn the best so we can keep them engaged,” Justus said.

The district will assign teachers to Bullis who are comfortable with technology and interested in different ways of delivering information.

“The only difference is the delivery - the use of technology,” Justus said of the curriculum he has in mind. “We’ll use laptop computers, cameras, video equipment, all the kinds of things you use to instruct in a different way from the traditional.”

Trustee Duane Roberts suggested that such a school could encourage students to make careers in science and

technology.

“We better do something or the center of Silicon Valley is going to shift to the east - and I’m thinking of the Far East,” Roberts said.

As MVLA Superintendent Rich Fischer has done in planning Freestyle High, Justus will look for community and business partners in operating a technology-driven program at Bullis. One community partner could be the town of Los Altos Hills, which needs playing fields. Justus said upgrading the fields at Bullis, including perhaps the upper field, could be part of renovating the campus.

School could start, however, “without major, major renovation, given the changes made for the kindergarten program already,” the superintendent said, but the facility would have to be renovated before long. Justus sees that as part of Phase 2 construction, which staff and trustees hope to begin if the district’s parcel tax allocation is reauthorized. Bullis will be modernized to match its instructional program.

Audience reaction to the proposal for Bullis was not wholly favorable.

Breene Kerr, mayor of Los Altos Hills, addressed the board, saying, “I guess I don’t get it. With Bullis Charter School, the district has seven (elementary) schools already. There absolutely should be someone from Los Altos Hills on your committee while you decide what to do with a 10-acre site in our community.”

The charter school leases the Egan camp school from the district. Its governing agency is the Santa Clara County Office of Education, with which its representatives signed a Memorandum of Understanding two years ago.

Justus met late last week with a committee composed, for the time being, of several principals and Patty Boettcher, assistant superintendent for instructional services. Justus said he plans to consider whom to add to the committee. The first meeting “led to lists of things to conquer,” he said.

As Roberts pointed out, two years “is an aggressive timeline” for reopening Bullis. Before the smallest and most dilapidated school in the district was closed two years ago, it slid to the bottom of the renovations priority list. It was spruced up for the extended-day kindergarten program being held there this year, but extensive upgrades will be necessary for a full-fledged K-6 program.

But the district now has more students and higher property tax revenue than projected when Bullis closed, Roberts said.

“The Basic Aid delta is growing faster,” he added. “We’re not talking about doing this tomorrow, but significant changes have taken place.”