Schools

Town Crier File Photo
Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District trustees are reviewing the district’s new homework policy, weighing whether it balances academic rigor while easing students’ workload.

A spirited discussion on homework anchored last week’s meeting of the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Board of Trustees.

The board discussed the role of homework in maintaining balance between academic rigor and easing the workload on stressed-out students.

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees last week acknowledged that it has taken steps to fulfill a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury’s request that it make it easier for seniors to apply for parcel-tax exemptions.

The grand jury report, released in May, investigated the Los Altos School District and 21 other districts in the county that offer parcel-tax exceptions. While not naming any district in particular, the report revealed that some made exemptions difficult to secure. Reasons included unclear deadlines, the availability of exceptions and an arduous application process, among other factors.

Rendering Courtesy ofLos Altos School District
The Los Altos School District is trimming trees at all of its campuses in advance of installing solar shade structures, shown in the rendering at left.

Crews are trimming and removing trees this week to make way for installation of solar shade structures at each of the 10 Los Altos School District campuses.

The structures are slated for installation in school parking lots, except at Oak Avenue School, where the structures will be installed on the play area blacktop. The structures are similar to those already in place in the parking lots at Los Altos and Mountain View high schools.

Courtesy of Sarika Sethi
The fledgling Student Community Leaders class at Los Altos High School returns this fall with a new initiative, Freshman Jumpstart, to ease the transition for students arriving fresh from middle school.

Incoming ninth-graders at Los Altos High School will have a little extra help navigating new and unfamiliar breezeways this year thanks to Freshman Jumpstart, a new peer mentoring program run by the school’s youth leadership class.

All new freshmen at Los Altos High this fall will be paired with a volunteer mentor, all of whom are older students whose grades meet a grade-point average cutoff and who have been recommended by a teacher. In an effort to ease the sometimes nerve-racking transition from smaller middle-school campuses, Jumpstart mentors aim to provide not only concrete advice on subjects such as course selection, but also a friendly face on campus.

A program launching this summer at Foothill College aims to put underrepresented students through their first two years of college at no cost while they are still in high school.

Senior homeowners who reside in the Los Altos School District may be eligible for exemption from the district parcel tax. The deadline to request an exemption is Friday.

To qualify, homeowners must be age 65 or over, own a parcel of land within district boundaries and use the parcel as their principal residence.