By Eliza Ridgeway

Jones

The Los Altos Hills City Council unanimously voted Thursday to petition the Santa Clara County Board of Education to create a separate K-8 school district that could continue to feed into the Palo Alto Unified and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union high school districts.

The resolution submitted to the County Commission of School District Organization seeks to maintain current high school boundaries for the proposed Los Altos Hills elementary school district. Such a plan would be a departure from current regulations, which channel students from an elementary school district into only one high school district.

The council’s proposal could require a different interpretation of the education code, a change in legislation or a waiver from the state board. If it approved the town’s resolution, the county committee would explore those options. If the committee rejects that change, the city council offered a second choice that would assign Los Altos Hills graduates to the Palo Alto district.

Thursday’s action capped months of study and discussion by the council and the town’s public education committee, created in the wake of the 2003 closure of Bullis-Purissima School. The council had issued two 30-day reprieves to the affected school districts to work out a counter plan before going ahead with the redistricting bid.

Maintaining current high school attendance boundaries would minimize the fiscal impact of redistricting on the affected school districts.

Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Superintendent Rich Fischer questioned the motives of those at the meeting who wished to withdraw from the district, whose high-performing students match those at Gunn. “Is it the fact that some people are different at (these) schools - that we have some diversity?”

Fischer, set to retire at the end of this month, attended the meeting with his successor, Barry Groves, and Los Altos School District Superintendent Tim Justus.

A third option was the possible formation of a K-12 district in Los Altos Hills, which would include a small high school and seek interdistrict transfers for its students at other local high schools. Given the funding Los Altos Hills’ property taxes would bring, Public Education Committee Chairman Duncan MacMillan predicted transfer students would be welcome in other districts.

Although there was no consensus, many speakers argued that forming a K-8 district would focus on the town’s first priority, reforming elementary education, and likely prove more politically acceptable than including the secondary reorganization.

Despite the council’s vote to pursue redistricting, the Los Altos School District plans to continue the planning process begun during negotiations with the town.

“We expected the vote by the town council and we are disappointed by it,” Justus said. “It’s disappointing we had to keep marching forward on a deadline which was basically artificial.”

“The town has now exhausted its options for negotiation,” Mayor Breene Kerr said. City Councilman Craig Jones said that it was too hard to predict the outcome of the (LASD) district’s deliberations, even if they did conclude in September or October.

If the county commission reviews the request, Justus said the district would oppose it.

The Los Altos School Board scheduled a special board meeting Monday, after the Town Crier deadline, to continue detailing their Capital Facility Plan, which includes the future of the Bullis-Purissima site.

The redistricting issue is the result of the Los Altos School District’s decision three years ago to close Bullis-Purissima Elementary School. Hills residents formed the Bullis Charter School with the expectation that it would be located in the Hills, preferably on the closed Bullis site. The Los Altos district, mandated by the board of education to find a location for the newly formed charter school, placed it in portable classrooms at Egan Junior High School.

The town council authorized the redistricting request in March. That triggered a series of meetings including the affected high school districts to find a compromise solution.

Hills representatives and those from the high school districts agreed to the general recommendations, but the LASD required time for a thorough review. The Hills council followed its deadline for a decision and filed the request for redistricting.