School News

The Mountain View Whisman School District, the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, the Los Altos School District and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District are all closed today, Nov. 16, because of the poor air quality.

The libraries at Mountain View High and Los Altos High will be open and supervised today for MVLA students. 

The Santa Clara County Office of Education released a statement today saying that the majority of public schools in the county remain open, but local schools have opted to close. 

The office of education provided the following guidelines for staying safe in smoky conditions: 

*   Stay indoors in an area with filtered air. Particle pollution can get indoors, so consider purchasing an air cleaner if you live in an area with high levels of particle pollution.

*   Air cleaners that remove particles include high-efficiency mechanical filters and electronic air cleaners, such as electrostatic precipitators. Avoid using an air cleaner that works by generating ozone, which will increase the pollution in your home.

*   If you do not have air cleaners in your home, try to go somewhere that does have air filtration. This could, for example, be a friend's home, if it has air filtration.

*   Please keep your families indoors and limit outdoor and or strenuous activity.

*   Drink plenty of water.

*   Watch your child for symptoms including coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, and chest tightness. Even children who do not have asthma can experience these symptoms.

*   If symptoms occur, your child might need to take a break, do a less intense activity, stop all activity, go indoors or use quick-relief medicine as prescribed. If symptoms don't improve, get medical help.

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Los Altos School District Board candidates Vaishali Sirkay, from left, and Vladimir Ivanovic and board member Sangeeth Peruri review election results on a smartphone Tuesday night during an election party gathering at the Courtyard by Marriott in Los Altos. Voters elected newcomer Sirkay and incumbent Ivanovic to the board.

Incumbents retained their seats on local school boards, and newcomers Catherine Vonnegut and Vaishali Sirkay will also join the high school and elementary school district boards, respectively.

Sirkay, a Community Health Awareness Council board member, will replace Sangeeth Peruri on the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees. Peruri opted not to run for re-election. Sirkay came in third in the election, following incumbents Bryan Johnson and Vladimir Ivanovic.

Sirkay has volunteered in the school district and the community for the past eight years, holding leadership positions on the Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Finance, the Los Altos Community Coalition, the Measure N bond campaign and other groups.

The election for the Los Altos School District came days after Bullis Charter School announced it was requesting the entirety of Egan Junior High’s campus for the 2019-2020 school year. The timing was not intentional – the facilities request was due Nov. 1 – but the candidates not affiliated with the charter school capitalized on the opportunity to win over voters.

“More than ever, we need to elect a board that is united in its commitment to serve in the best interests of our LASD community,” Sirkay wrote to her supporters.

Following the charter school’s facilities request, district officials released an incendiary statement that spawned the creation of multiple online petitions.

“BCS demands that LASD close its top-ranked Egan Junior High School and turn over the entire campus to BCS,” the release states.

A petition to “Save Egan” has received more than 2,300 signatures, and a petition to “Solve the LASD facilities issue” notched 200-plus signatures.

By the afternoon of election day, Nov. 6, Bullis Charter School officials had released their own statement, which said their selection of the Egan campus was forced by needing to pick a specific site or geographic region and needing to pick a site that wouldn’t require construction to house its kindergarten through eighth-grade classes.

Sirkay will join the school board at a divisive time – the district must provide an offer of facilities to the charter school by Feb. 1, is in the midst of purchasing land in Mountain View and has yet to decide which school would go on that land.

High school district

Incumbents Debbie Torok and Fiona Walter were re-elected to the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Board of Trustees, and newcomer Vonnegut earned a seat with a third-place finish. Vonnegut, a longtime district volunteer, will replace Joe Mitchner, who decided not to run for re-election after 11 years on the board.

“I’m very sad to be losing Joe Mitchner and his wealth of knowledge and expertise, but Catherine will be a great addition moving forward,” Walter said.

Vonnegut, a Mountain View resident, is a retired software engineer. She said she’ll bring her technological expertise to the board, as well as her volunteer experience in emergency preparedness. She has one son who graduated from Mountain View High, and she’s volunteered for many community organizations, including serving as president of the Mountain View High Parent Teacher Student Association and on the board of the Mountain View Educational Foundation.

MVLA passed a $295 million bond in June and expects to break ground on new facilities in the next year. Hand-in-hand with construction plans is the district’s soaring enrollment: MVLA has approximately 600 more students now than it did five years ago.

South Los Altos

South Los Altos voters helped elect three newcomers – Lori Cunningham, Jerry Liu and Satheesh Kumar Madhathil – to the Cupertino Union School District Board of Trustees. Cunningham was the first Los Altos resident to run for the board in 10 years.

The Fremont Union High School District passed Measure CC, a $275 million facilities bond, with 63 percent of the vote. Incumbent Bill Wilson was re-elected to the board, along with newcomers Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto and Rosa Kim.

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After 38 years in education and 11 years as a superintendent, Jeff Harding, superintendent of the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, plans to retire, effective June 30.

According to an MVLA-issued press release, in the four years Harding has led the district, he championed services for underserved students including an expanded Advancement Via Individual Determination program, supported programs that attend to the well-being of all students and staff and oversaw the hiring of numerous administrators. He has kept the district’s budget in the black, the release stated, and initiated Measure E, the bond that is bringing $295 million in construction dollars to the district’s high school campuses.

“I’ll retire from MVLA knowing that our district fundamentals are solid,” Harding said. “Academic performance continues to improve. The passage of Measure E will bring new buildings to accommodate our growing enrollment. Our fiscal reserves have grown, and we have an outstanding board of trustees that supports the success and well-being of all students and staff. Without question, there’s a rosy future ahead for MVLA.”

MVLA Board of Trustees President Fiona Walter thanked Harding on behalf of the board.

“Many projects have moved forward under his guidance, including approval of a facilities master plan, passage of a facilities bond, technology improvements, support for student and staff wellness, and so much more,” she said. “We wish him all the best after 38 years in education.”

Harding said he plans to travel and spend more time with his wife, sons and friends, while also pursuing part-time professional projects, including leadership coaching for current and aspiring school administrators.

The board of trustees will initiate an executive search for a new superintendent in the coming weeks.

For more on Harding’s decision and time on the board, see next week’s issue of the Town Crier.

Bullis Charter School plans to apply this fall to charter a new elementary school in the Mountain View Whisman School District.

McAlister

A local resident leveled a conflict-of-interest complaint against Mountain View City Councilman John McAlister last week, casting doubt on the council’s decisions regarding the Los Altos School District’s acquisition of land for a 10th campus.

Mountain View resident Ellyn Berner wrote in a letter that McAlister’s vote on the district’s 10th site constitutes a conflict of interest because he co-owns Stepping Stones preschool, located on the Covington School campus, which leases land from the district.

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees plans to discuss Monday whether to place a bond measure on the November ballot, according to Chancellor Judy C. Miner.

“Because we don’t know if we will actually go out for a bond, we have no dollar amount established at this time,” Miner said, noting that $898 million was the highest amount mentioned on a survey the district conducted last October.