As the Los Altos School District trustees are expected to finalize purchase of the 10-acre Federal Realty property in The Village at San Antonio Center for a new campus, and to decide on which school will be housed there, we want to correct the record on some misinformation that is being spread as the topic is being debated. 

Bullis Charter School: Why no outrage?

Outrage abounds. Many are asking why the Los Altos School District camp would negotiate a deal that seemingly surrenders a “jewel” to Bullis Charter School when the charter school apparently gives up nothing.

Let me tell you why I am celebrating. This deal is a long time in the making. As a Bullis Charter School parent, I am excited to consolidate our program onto one site. We will no longer spend time negotiating the use of a gym, field or lab, and all of us can go back to supporting our students in their classrooms. No more Proposition 39, threats of lawsuits or brutal neighbor-to-neighbor conflict.

When our family originally moved from Mountain View to Los Altos, we thought our newly purchased home cost more than what anyone ought to pay for a three-bedroom fixer-upper, but the joke at the time was that in Los Altos, you pay for the land and the house itself is free. That said, the property had potential, so my husband and I took the plunge and bought it.

The second day after we had moved in, a neighbor approached me while I was standing outside. He was an original homeowner, someone who had built his house on this tract of land where nothing but orchards had existed before.

A proposed city of Los Altos stormwater drainage fee, subject of a city council public hearing Tuesday, will average approximately $7 per month, or $88 per year per parcel.

Egan students deserve better

I respectfully disagree with the April 10 editorial (“Bombshell deal just might work”) and Nancy Bremeau’s letter (“LASD scores an ‘A’ for 10th-site plan”) concerning the deal to give the whole of the Egan Junior High School campus to Bullis Charter School and move Egan to a new site.

I grew up in the Los Altos School District and graduated from Egan in 1994. At that time we had six elementary schools, Bullis Charter School did not exist and there were 351 students at Egan. If my counting is accurate, it means 351 Egan students enjoyed an entire 18.8-acre campus to themselves.

At the April 8 Los Altos School District board meeting, families expressed their outrage with the proposal to relocate Egan Junior High School. Our community believes, and I agree, that the proposed Bullis Charter School/Los Altos School District agreement is not in the best interests of our children. We all want peace, but not at any cost. We must find a better solution.

I request that the district and charter school boards work together to implement a groundbreaking district/charter collaboration that benefits all students.