By Traci Newell

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees began a review of four attendance area designs presented by the Attendance Area Committee, and listened to public input on the topic at the April 23 board meeting.

Superintendent Tim Justus said the district must redefine the district’s attendance areas because Almond and Santa Rita schools are nearing their maximum population of 580 students each, and Bullis-Purissima School is scheduled to reopen in 2008.

Justus expects a decision by June on which choice will define the school attendance areas for the 2008-2009 school year.

More than 200 neighborhood representatives were present as committee members Leslie Crane and Stephanie Friend listed the alternatives.

“We all agree we want as permanent a decision as possible to bring some type of long-term solution,” Friend said. “We want to bring stability back to the district - without the fear of overflow.”

Scenario 1

Only the first proposal was designed with contiguous attendance areas. The committee had difficulty shaping a case with contiguous attendance lines because the fastest growing area in the district, the portion north of El Camino Real, would have to feed into either Santa Rita or Almond, the schools that are already near overflowing.

The committee suggested that choosing Scenario 1, the contiguous scenario, could run the risk of future overcrowding and might force the district into redrawing lines in another 4 to 5 years.

“Contiguous lines had to be abandoned (in the other three proposals) in order to achieve a long-term scenario for the district,” Friend said.

Scenario 2

Scenario 2, which would affect the fewest students, leaves Loyola, Springer and Oak sections unchanged. The new Bullis-Purissima attendance area would include the southern portion of the current Santa Rita attendance area. The area north of California Street, between San Antonio Road and Ortega Avenue, 167 students, would be assigned to Covington.

Students north of California Street would need to go farther to their assigned school than they do now, but currently only 60 percent of them attend the closest school due to overflow issues.

Scenario 3

Two areas, the same area north of California Street and the neighborhood along Del Medio Avenue between El Camino Real and Alma Street, would be assigned to schools that are not their first or even second nearest. The Del Medio community, 105 students, would be placed in the Bullis-Purissima area and the California Street community would be placed in the Covington community.

Also in Scenario 3, Covington would absorb the southern tip of the current Santa Rita attendance area and Springer would gain some of the former Covington attendance area.

Scenario 4

The district would send the Monroe Park neighborhood of 48 students, north of El Camino next to the Del Medio Avenue neighborhood, to Bullis-Purissima. The area north of California would attend Covington.

In Scenario 4, the Covington attendance area would absorb the southern tip of the current Santa Rita attendance area and Bullis-Purissima would gain the northern portion of the current Loyola attendance area.

Public comment

Parents from the Santa Rita, Monroe Park, Del Medio and California Street communities filled the 30 minutes allocated for public comment.

The Santa Rita parents requested that their community stay intact, not split up or absorbed by other neighboring schools. The Monroe Park, Del Medio and California Street parents asked the district not to force them to attend schools at a greater distance than other families. Parents said it was preposterous to have them drive past two closer schools in order to attend Covington or Bullis-Purissima.

The board must also determine how to grandfather the new attendance boundaries. The Attendance Area Committee submitted three proposals to protect older students from an abrupt change: exclude sixth-graders only, fifth- and sixth-graders or fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders.

The next public forum on the attendance area issue is scheduled 7 p.m. Monday. The board will complete public hearings May 21.