Schools

Courtesy of Bullis Charter School
Bullis Charter School parents participate in hands-on activities at Back to School Night.

Bullis Charter School parents who attended the middle school Back to School Night Sept. 5 participated in a new format designed to engage them as partners in their students’ learning.

Teachers Ted Grinewich-Yonashiro, Alli Kustin and Liem Tran-Zwijsen worked through the summer to reimagine the event, which provided a hands-on learning experience for parents. According to Grinewich-Yonashiro, their goals were “to give the parents an opportunity to experience some of the unique activities that their children engage in on a typical day at BCS, develop a way to make the information presented at Back to School Night available to parents throughout the year and make sure the night highlighted what is special about the BCS middle school.”

Mentor Tutor Connection has scheduled an open house and lunch for potential volunteers noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 13 at the El Camino YMCA, 2400 Grant Road, Mountain View.

The nonprofit organization needs mentors for students at Los Altos, Mountain View and Alta Vista high schools and tutors for elementary and middle school students in Los Altos and Mountain View public schools.

Stanford University professor Jonathan Rodden is scheduled to discuss “Political Geography and Minority Rule” 7:30 p.m. today at Los Altos High School’s Eagle Theater, 201 Almond Ave.

“This lecture is unique, because it is intended for a high school audience to stimulate interest among students and get them talking and interested about the issue of voting rights,” said organizer Steve Matthews, a member of the National Voter Corps steering committee. “They play a very critical role in elections, and we want to increase participation from younger people in the voting process.”

Courtesy of MVLA
The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District honored newly certificated teachers and staff Aug. 21.

There wasn’t an empty seat in the house at last week’s meeting of the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District’s Board of Trustees.

Several seats at the Aug. 21 meeting – the first of the new school year – were reserved for the 19 teachers and other district staff who recently completed the two-year process of reviews and evaluations to become permanent, certificated staff.

Megan V. WInslow/Town Crier

Sammy Bonar, 5, in yellow sweater, hugs her neighbor, Ashley Hannan, 5, Aug. 16, the first day of classes at Springer School. As is tradition, families queued before morning assembly to snap photos beside a decorative mosaic star outside the school office.

V. WInslow/Town Crier

Los Altos History Museum Co-President Linda Eckols, left, leads students on a tour of their peers’ art at the museum’s J. Gilbert Smith House last week.

The artists, working in summer school, crafted visual responses to the Los Altos community, creating art that reflects the environment in which they live and study. The Smith House gallery is the first collaboration between the Los Altos Art Docents and the Los Altos History Museum.