From: Dave Cortright <davecortright@yahoo.com>
To: Joseph Di Salvo <josephsds1@aol.com>; Michael Chang <michael_chang@sccoe.org>; Anna Song <anna_song@sccoe.org>; Grace Mah <grace_mah@sccoe.org>; Julia Hover-Smoot <julia_hover-smoot@sccoe.org>; Leon Beauchman <leon_beauchman@sccoe.org>; Craig Mann <craig_mann@sccoe.org>; Carmen Aminzadeh <Carmen_Aminzadeh@sccoe.org>; Xavier De La Torre <Xavier_DeLaTorre@sccoe.org>; Cary Dritz <Cary_Dritz@sccoe.org>; Lucretia Peebles <Lucretia_Peebles@sccoe.org>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 10:24 PM
Subject: When does the real, earnest investigation into BCS' behavior begin?
Members of the Santa Clara County Board and Office of Education,
Last week Los Altos School District (LASD) filed its arguments with the court regarding the ongoing dispute with Bullis Charter School (BCS) over facilities.
http://www.lasdschools.org/District/News-Section/4627-LASD-BCS-Court-Update.html
Today, a non-profit group of Los Altos families and community members filed their own legal briefs in support of the district and the children that BCS seeks to displace by their impertinent greed for facilities. Los Altos Patch has an article, but the really interesting information is in the PDFs attached to the article. Be sure not to miss those.
http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/a-parent-group-seeks-status
I am quite simply dumbfounded by the collective evidence presented. A special needs family was denied an application form; an in-district special needs student fails to gain a slot in three consecutive years even though slots are available; families with special needs kids are denied the specialized curricula required for their children and are thus forced to withdraw; a special needs family is repeatedly dissuaded from attending the school. These are exactly the children that charter law (47601(b) specifically) was written to help. Yet here is a charter school that is doing the exact opposite—shunning the most at-need children and accepting only the mainstream kids who are both cheaper and easier to educate. This is not what public education is about. This make me nauseous.
On top of that, the LASD filings have this very enlightening declaration from Los Altos community member of Eric D. Lundberg:
http://www.lasdschools.org/files/user/1/file/2012-07-24%20LASD%20Declaration%20of%20Eric%20D%20%20Lundberg.pdf
Eric did his own investigation into the loans that the BCS board has provided to the BCS principal/superintendent Wanny Hersey and found them to be illegal.
It also took the extraordinary efforts of LASD parent and ex-BCS parent Mike Uhler to demonstrate to you that BCS' application process was illegal.
Why must my community continue to do the research and investigations into BCS' bad behavior that SCCOE should be doing? When will SCCOE finally do the job of overseeing BCS which you committed to each time you approved their charter? When can we in the community finally see BCS held accountable for their malfeasance?
I am deeply disappointed that it had to get to this point. But I can only hope now that we are here, the seriousness of the situation is finally upon you—as well as the eyes of the world once the broader press gets ahold of this story—and you will start giving this the attention and action it deserves.
Don't forget: you committed to coming into our community and holding a discussion. Now more than ever, we need you to honor that commitment. We need answers; we need to action; and we need it soon. Please, do not let us down.
Respectfully,
·Dave Cortright
PS Dr. Xavier De La Torre, welcome to the fray. I am delighted to have someone with both your experience and a fresh outside viewpoint on board. I truly hope (believe!) that you can help us out of this quagmire.
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