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Uploaded: Thursday, September 27, 2012, 11:42 AM
Judge can't rule in Bullis case
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by Nick Veronin
Mountain View Voice Staff
A judge has ruled that attorneys for Bullis Charter School must file another lawsuit if they wish to continue pursuing their latest legal action against the Los Altos School District.
It is a decision that Arturo Gonzalez, the charter school's attorney, had anticipated. He and his legal team have already filed another suit this time expanding upon what they sought in their previous action.
"The ruling is consistent with the comments she made at the hearing," Gonzalez said.
California Superior Court Judge Patricia Lucas, in a ruling issued Sept. 20, declared she did not have jurisdiction to decide on the motion Gonzalez had brought before the court. "As we said then, we don't agree with her conclusion, but we respect her opinion and have decided to proceed with a new lawsuit to resolve the issues."
That lawsuit, Gonzalez continued, has "broadened in scope," and now includes demands for more furniture and equipment, which the lawyer insisted the students of the charter school require, and calls for the appointment of a "special master" to preside over all future facilities allocations from the district to the charter school.
Ray Cardozo, attorney for LASD, said he was pleased with Lucas' ruling, adding that "It was a legally unauthorized move by Bullis."
Commenting on the charter school's new lawsuit and the move to appoint a special master, Cardozo said, "They can't get what they want out of the court, so now they want someone else."
Special masters, Gonzalez explained, are officials appointed by the court and meant to serve as a disinterested third party with the sole charge of ensuring that a court order is carried out. Bullis is currently arguing that LASD has neglected to fulfill its court ordered obligations.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Fine, a resident of another community, on Sep 27, 2012 at 12:50 pm Arturo Gonzales must be rakin' it in eh?
Who cares anymore. Lets never stop this and litigate until both coffers are cleaned out and Arturo is hangin' w/ Larry Ellison on Lanai.
I hope this continues on and on and on. I hope when people hear others speak on the topic of "Bullis", they wretch and sneer in disgust. I can't care anymore. "Sue Forrest SUE!"
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Posted by citizen, a resident of another community, on Sep 27, 2012 at 2:13 pm To Fine: you should care. This legal battle affects thousands of school children in a rare public district which actually succeeds in educating kids. More litigation means fewer taxpayer dollars (presumably some of yours) going to those kids. It also sets a precedent for other high-achieving districts across the state which could end up facing the same issues. California voters made it easy for charter schools to start and expand unchecked without regard to whether they are needed, wanted, or effective in improving the quality of education in their communtities. They have unelected governing bodies that spend taxpayer dollars. We are responsible for this situation, and should care how it affects us.
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Posted by gcoladon, a resident of the Slater neighborhood, on Sep 27, 2012 at 2:19 pm
gcoladon is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online Hey Fine,
You seem to have only mentioned one of the two lawyers who was quoted at length in the article. I suspect both of them are benefitting from the never-ending lawsuits.
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Posted by Tom, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Sep 27, 2012 at 3:10 pm One demand from BCS seems intriguing to me: as their kids are getting older they now want to add middle school grades 7&8 to the BCS program. That is pretty sweet. I have kids at Springer who will be finishing in a couple of years. Instead of having to truck on over to Blach, I too would like to add 7&8th grades to Springer!
I think we have a case here for Springer, in particular, because somehow we seem to have the highest percentage of special needs kids in all of LASD (this number has grown in recently to about 19% of all students, in fact; BCS is <1 or 2%). Seems to be a strong argument for getting charter status, since the law explicitly states that special needs education is required. I need to get in touch with this Arturo Gonzalez, and "lawyer up"!
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Posted by About to Implode, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Sep 27, 2012 at 3:13 pm Quite obviously SWEEPING reforms of the laws surrounding Charter schools are needed. The longer this goes on, the more evident it is.
It public taxpayer money is being spent, the board should never be private.
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Posted by Ron Haley, a resident of another community, on Sep 27, 2012 at 5:09 pm As long as LASD fails to comply with the law and share facilities equally with the Charter, litigation will be ongoing. I wonder how LASD is going to explain to parents why they have to pay the BCS legal fees as well as their own.
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Posted by Ron Haley, a resident of another community, on Sep 27, 2012 at 5:12 pm Tom,
Get your facts right. BCS has had a 7th and 8th grade program for a number of years. This year, it's at 75 students. It'll be 100 next year. Quite a large number come from Mountain View.
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Posted by That explains it, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Sep 27, 2012 at 5:31 pm The blog responses explains why the lawsuits just keeping going on and on and on.
No civility on either side. What a shame.
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Posted by Tom, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Sep 27, 2012 at 5:37 pm Hi Ron,
Sorry, I am behind on my facts, they already got 7&8! Your lawyers move quickly! Sweet! I am jealous!
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Posted by Ron Haley, a resident of another community, on Sep 27, 2012 at 5:44 pm Tom,
No problem, This is the third year of the program.
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Posted by Start Over, a resident of another community, on Sep 28, 2012 at 6:08 am Look at how delighted Ron seems. Really awful stuff for the community on oth sides. REFORM CHARTER SCHOOL LAWS NOW!
Hello, Mr Simitian...there outta be a law!!!
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Posted by Can't keep quiet, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Sep 28, 2012 at 12:34 pm I'm furious. I hope Gonzalez donates his lawyers fee back to BCS. He expected to lose this lawsuit? Then why the heck did he file it?? This was just a huge waste of money, and Gonzelez is the only one to profit from it. We need to fire him and focus on what the school really needs.
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Posted by Los Altan, a resident of another community, on Oct 3, 2012 at 10:40 am Ron,
Since BCS has so many Mountain View students, may I suggest that you relocate to Mountain View? We don't want BCS in Los Altos. Please go serve some underperforming area of Santa Clara county and leave our top rated Los Altos schools alone.
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