Dear Gardner Bullis Community,

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. Thank you to everyone who participated in Walk or Wheel this morning! It was great to see so many students starting their day with physical activity, music, and smiles. Congratulations to Ms. Chen's class for having the highest participation! I would also like to thank the community members who joined me this morning for our Coffee with the Principal. Today's topics included CAASPP reminders, an ELAC update (English Learner Advisory Committee), information about our transition to Parent Square, and other site updates. After Coffee with the Principal, we had our Junior Olympics Pep Rally to pump up our 4th-6th graders for their exciting day tomorrow! I am looking forward to seeing our community out and about at Junior Olympics! Also, it's time to start thinking about our end-of-year talent show, Gardner's Got Talent! Please use this link to register your student if they are interested. Sign-ups are open until Friday, May 1st!

Parent Square: We’re excited to share that LASD is adopting a new communication platform, ParentSquare, to better inform and connect you with your school community. With ParentSquare, you’ll receive school communications (such as newsletters, early release notifications, and messages from the Principal) translated into your preferred language—via email, text, app, or web.

During our transition to ParentSquare, we will be operating both communication platforms simultaneously to ensure the new system is fully functional before the final migration. Gardner Bullis is helping pilot the transition, so keep an eye out for this week's newsletter on ParentSquare as well!. We appreciate your cooperation and patience during this implementation period. To get the most out of ParentSquare, we encourage you to download the free mobile app, available for iOS and Android. You can also access ParentSquare from your web browser at www.parentsquare.com.

You're Invited to the 64th Annual Junior Olympics! Come cheer on our Gardner Grizzlies at Junior Olympics tomorrow at Mountain View High School! It's a day full of fun as 4th-6th grade students across LASD compete in track and field-type events starting with the 1320 at 8am and Opening Ceremony at 9am. The event schedule, map, food information and more are available at lasdjo.com. Hope to see you there, and GO GRIZZLIES!

Year Book: Only 2 more weeks left to buy yearbooks! Buy yours on Treering today. Last day to purchase with guaranteed EOY delivery is Thursday, April 30th. Don't forget you can customize your child's yearbook with personal memories that will only appear in their yearbook! Have questions? View our Yearbook FAQs

We would love to have you volunteer! If you have extra time in your day and would like to join us for lunch (12:00-12:45), you are welcome, you are appreciated, and you are needed! (Plus, you get to wear the stylish orange vests and fanny packs.)

We look forward to seeing you this Saturday at LASD’s Junior Olympics, where students at our seven LASD elementary schools will compete in a variety of track and field events.

THANK YOU to our PE and Music teachers who’ve worked hard to prepare 4th-6th-grade students at each school to participate in this annual event! And thank you to those who’ve donated to LAEF to help fund teachers for TK-6th-grade PE, 4th-6th-grade music, and more. If you have yet to give this school year, donate to LAEF today and help keep our schools strong.

You are invited to attend the Stanford Graduate School of Education’s 2026 Cubberley Lecture with legendary storyteller, children’s literacy advocate, and beloved Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton. This free event is on Thursday, May 7, at 5pm. Find out more and reserve a spot.

Bring art to life in our classrooms by joining the Art Docent program! Our wonderful team of volunteers teaches engaging art lessons to elementary students across the district—no artistic experience required. All you need is a love of creativity and a desire to work with children. Art Docents enjoy ongoing training, inspiring field trips, fun social events, and a strong sense of community.

Curious to learn more? Join us for a Volunteer Open House on May 7th from 9:00–10:30 AM in the Art Docent Office at 201 Covington Road. We’d love to meet you and share how you can get involved!"

Math Resources: The April Problem of the Month is posted! (Click into the document.) These problems are designed to promote problem-solving and encourage students to delve deeper into mathematics. Students also have access to simpler Problems of the Week (through the Math Olympiads Website). These resources are compiled for students in this document, which will be linked on Bear Tracks each week! Please take a look, and encourage your students to challenge themselves with these math resources. As we approach CAASPP season (state testing), there is also a link to CAASPP practice test questions.

The City of Los Altos is updating its General Plan — a long-term roadmap guiding decisions about housing, transportation, parks, safety, and public investment over the next two decades. Community participation is essential for the success of the project, and the city would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Gardner Bullis Elementary School to help ensure a broad range of residents have an opportunity to help shape the Plan.

As an early step, the City has launched a brief survey (https://losaltosgpu.com/community-survey/) to gather input on what people value, what they would like to preserve or improve, and what kind of community they hope Los Altos will become. The city would greatly appreciate your help sharing the survey link in your bulletin or newsletter. A promotional flier, graphic and suggested language to post in social media can be accessed here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/sro4ddncprsindxkw3lps/AGIFjcODYCNzb5lR0qeVZ0U?rlkey=bl7h6e4425vhclvi7qmpjt1oh&st=vl7syetr&dl=0. The survey is open through April 19, 2026, and responses will inform a shared vision for the future of Los Altos.

The General Plan Update is a two-year effort and there will be additional opportunities for community participation throughout the process.

For local coverage of issues related to learning challenges and special education, please check out the Learning Challenges Committee https://sites.google.com/view/learning-challenges-committee

We have a YouTube channel with many of our past events including the recent talk on Assistive Technology, info summer camps and recreational activities, Anxiety and Depression in Children with Learning Challenges, SMART Goals and IEP Troubleshooting, and more. Channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuy7IcVz-4LTDxv2Jaq13nw