The Los Altos School District (LASD) Community Engagement Process is designed to engage a diversity of stakeholders to understand community support for a long term facilities plan to house Bullis Charter School (BCS).
The goals of the Community Engagement Process are to:
Ensure widespread and diverse participation
Increase awareness of the constraints and variables for BCS facilities
Provide opportunities for the public to share concerns, perspectives and ideas
Involve the public in validating previous scenarios and/or identifying new scenarios that could gain the support of the community.
The Community Engagement Process will operate under a set of Guiding Principles determined by the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees.
Click here for a history and context of the facilities allocation for BCS.
Click here to review facilities scenarios considered by the LASD Board and community over the years.
Below is a graphic depicting the Community Engagement Process and timing of various milestones.
Please join us for upcoming charrettes and workshops, where participants will have the opportunity to review previously considered facilities scenarios, generate new ideas and gauge support for various options.
Charrettes and workshops will have the same format, so you do not need to participate in more than one of each.
Charrettes:
Wednesday, September 25, 6:30-8:30pm, Blach MultiPurpose Room
OR
Saturday, October 5, 9:30-11:30am, Egan MultiPurpose Room
Please only attend one workshop. Due to record turnout at our workshop on November 4, we are holding a third and final workshop to accommodate our community. Attendance is limited to 400 people. The format is the same for all workshops, so there is no need to participate in more than one. Please give others the opportunity to attend on November 18th if you have already had the chance to participate in a workshop. Participants and community members are asked not to distribute materials related to the facilities discussion at the workshop.
Please take a look at the materials that will be used during the workshops to help the Board understand community support for various facilities options that were generated by the community at the charrettes. We hope you will join us at the workshops!
We thank our community for participating in the charrettes in September and October. Please review the below PDF that lists questions that we received during the charrettes. We've provided answers to questions related to the ongoing facilities discussion. If you have any additional questions, please email communityengagement@lasdschools.org.
The Los Altos School District is also scheduling small group meetings at various times for PTAs and community groups, in addition to Board Office Hours, to share information and answer questions about the upcoming charrettes and workshops. Click here for more information about the small group meetings.
Board Office Hours Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 12:00-2:00pm, District Office Board Room, 201 Covington Rd.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 6:00-8:00pm, District Office iLearn Studio, 201 Covington Rd.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Community Engagement process and what are its goals?
The Los Altos School District (LASD) Community Engagement Process is designed to engage our community's diverse stakeholders to understand public support for a long term facilities plan to house Bullis Charter School (BCS).
The goals of the process are to:
Ensure widespread and diverse participation
Increase awareness of the constraints and variables for BCS facilities
Provide opportunities for the public to share concerns, perspectives and ideas
Involve the public in validating previous scenarios and/or identifying new scenarios that could gain the support of the community
What is a charrette and how will it be used in the Community Engagement Process?
A charrette is a meeting or activity that is designed to evaluate the scenarios that have been considered over time and generate new ideas. During the charrette, participants will work in small groups to reconsider previous facilities scenarios and generate new ideas for a facilities plan for BCS. LASD will host two charrettes on Wednesday, September 25 from 6:30-8:30pm in the Blach Intermediate School Multipurpose Room and Saturday, October 5 from 9:30-11:30am in the Egan Junior High School Multipurpose Room. Both charrettes will have the same format, so you have the ability to participate on the date that is most convenient. You only need to attend one charrette in order to participate in this ideas-generating process.
What is a workshop and how will it be used in the Community Engagement Process?
While the charrette is designed to generate ideas, the workshops are designed to discuss and evaluate these ideas so the LASD Board of Trustees can understand the options and ideas that are supported by the community.
Workshops will be held on Saturday, November 2 from 9:00-11:30am in the Egan Junior High School Multipurpose Room and Monday, November 4 from 6:00-8:30pm in the Blach Intermediate School Multipurpose Room. Each workshop includes a 30 minute open house at the beginning of the event for participants to review information. Both workshops will have the same format, so you may participate on the date that is most convenient. You only need to attend one workshop.
During the workshops, participants will indicate the level of support they have for an idea or option based on the scale described below:
1 = I fully support
2 = I find it acceptable and believe it is the best option available
3 = I can live with this direction, but I am not that enthusiastic about it
4 = I do not support, but will go with the wisdom of the group and not oppose this
5 = I do not feel we have any unity of opinion on this topic and more discussion is needed
6 = I disagree with this direction
This activity does not result in a vote or a rank-order priority. Rather, participants will be encouraged to identify all the options or ideas they would support. The LASD Board of Trustees is seeking to learn what participants support or are willing to consider, not just what is opposed.
What is the role of the consultant (MIG) in the Community Engagement process?
MIG, Inc, a multi-disciplinary firm based in Berkeley, CA serves as a neutral third-party facilitator. MIG recommends and designs the community engagement activities and related materials with direction and input from the Project Team. MIG will facilitate the charrettes and workshops and document the results. To ensure the process is inclusive and gathers feedback from our diverse community, MIG will record participation in all outreach activities. MIG will prepare the community engagement summary and present a report of its findings to the LASD board.
MIG will also manage and organize the email comments received through the LASD website email address: communityengagement@lasdschools.org. MIG will not respond to any comments sent directly to the facilitator or other MIG staff.
What is the role of the Project Team and who are its members?
The Project Team is a Superintendent's Committee, which will work with MIG to implement the public engagement process. This includes assisting with the creation of materials for public information, providing data requested by the community through the public engagement process and helping with outreach and publicity to ensure broad participation from key stakeholder groups to ensure the process is thorough and inclusive. The team's review is to help ensure that materials created by MIG are clear and accurate. The Project Team is not a decision-making body. The Project Team will make regular reports regarding progress to obtain Board direction and feedback, ensuring the process is on track. Project Team members include Jeff Baier, LASD Superintendent; Sarah Stern-Benoit, LASD Director of Communications; Randy Kenyon, LASD Assistant Superintendent of Business Services; Jessica Speiser, LASD Board of Trustees; Vladimir Ivanovic, LASD Board of Trustees; and Francis LaPoll, BCS Board of Directors.
How will LASD ensure the process is broad and inclusive and meetings are not dominated by a specific group or viewpoint?
LASD will be reaching out to all residents in the district using a variety of communication channels. For all activities, MIG will collect basic demographic information to help determine how well we are reaching participants from the communities served by the district. Our goal is to reach the diversity of our community, including residents with or without school age children.
What is a Small Group meeting and how can I attend one?
LASD will conduct small group meetings to:
Share information and answer questions about the community engagement process
Review the history and previous facilities scenarios LASD Boards have considered
Generate participation in the charrettes and workshops
Please note, the small group meetings are not for idea generation or to voice support for various options -- these activities will take place in the charrettes and workshops. Meetings are intended to be brief and take about 30 minutes. You may review the information that will be discussed during the small group meeting discussion here.
If you would like a small group meeting for your organization of 6 or more people, please email communityengagement@lasdschools.org.
How will the results of the outreach process help the LASD Board in its decision regarding a long term facilities plan?
The LASD is seeking a long-term facilities plan to house BCS so that both parties can plan for their students and facility needs. Agreeing to a long term facilities scenario would eliminate the historically contentious and time-consuming annual Prop. 39 process for facilities allocation.
The Community Engagement process has been designed to provide the community an opportunity to review and understand what has been considered in the past, generate new ideas and provide an indication to the board of the community's level of support for the various options and ideas that are generated through the process. This way, LASD Board will have an indication of the level of community support for facilities options in order to secure a long term agreement with BCS.
Can I submit my ideas for a facilities plan via email to the district?
Previously, our facilitator - MIG - accepted ideas emailed to the charrettes through the communityengagement@lasdschools.org email. Now that the community charrettes are underway, all ideas will be contributed in person at the charrettes instead of via email.
Contact Us
If you would like to provide any feedback or ask questions, please email communityengagement@lasdschools.org.
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Click here for a history and context of the facilities allocation for BCS.
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