By Traci Newell

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees voted Dec. 11 to continue housing the full-day kindergarten program on the Bullis-Purissima campus during the campus renovation project.

The board examined several options for the 2007-2008 school year, including spreading the full-day program among other LASD campuses, moving the entire program to the Covington campus, suspending the program for a year or keeping the program on the Bullis-Purissima campus.

Lisa Gelfand of Gelfand Partners Architects, the district architect, said installing five portables in the parking area of the Bullis-Purissima campus would cost the least and is the most efficient way to continue the program without hindering the construction process.

“We felt it was important for all of us to stay together for the continuity of the program,” said Pam Loebner, a teacher in the full-day kindergarten program. “We don’t want to see the program go away for a year. We hope it will become the standard for the district. We feel if we lose a year, that might just be the demise of the program.”

During board comments on the issue, Trustee Mark Goines pointed out that the school does not have enough capital funds to “roll out” the full-day kindergarten program to additional schools in the next three to five years because it would require building nearly two additional classrooms on each elementary school campus.

“I worry that we are half pregnant with this,” Goines said, “that we have chosen something that we can’t follow through on financially.”

Some community members in attendance suggested the board did not plan well enough for the kindergarten program.

“You might as well move (the kindergarten program off campus) unless you plan to keep it there after modernization,” said Jill Jensen, Los Altos Hills resident. Jensen said the full-day kindergarten program might add an additional 100 students on the Bullis-Purissima campus that could hinder the district’s plan of reopening a K-6 school.

“One respected member thinks you can’t afford (to move the kindergarten program),” said Duncan Macmillan, committee member on the Los Altos Hills ad hoc school reorganization committee. “The district should have calculated the full roll-out costs before starting the experiment. Moving the kindergarten program to Covington now would allow it to continue without hiatus in 2008. That way, LASD would at least be set up for Bullis-Purissima remaining a K-6 school - not a kindergarten experiment plus one to three (grades) or something less.”

Board members said the reason the program is running is to assess the educational benefits from such a program through the 2007-2008 school year.

Goines also said the full-day kindergarten “roll out” might become a part of the Phase II bonds the district plans to propose. For now, he said, the district is committed to running the kindergarten program on the Bullis-Purissima campus through the 2007-2008 school year. After that, decisions will be made based on funding.