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The Los Altos School District has been out of the spotight in recent years, after signing a five-year agreement resolving major facilities issues with Bullis Charter School and securing $150 million in bond money for campus construction projects through Measure N, which voters approved in Nov. 2014. But big decisions await the district’s school board members, who will have to choose where to construct a new school, whether to buy expensive new land or redevelop an existing campus, and what to do when the cease-fire between Bullis and the district ends.
Who ultimately gets to make those decisions is up to the voters. This November, Mountain View residents living in the Los Altos School District will get to choose between two candidates running for a seat left vacant by board member Tamara Logan, who announced she will be resigning two years before her terms ends. Two district parents, Crossings resident Tanya Raschke and North Los Altos resident Bryan Johnson, are facing off this November for that open seat.
Two other board members, Pablo Luther and Steve Taglio, both had terms that expired in 2016, but the race for their seats is uncontested. Luther decided not to run for re-election, so incumbent Taglio and Covington parent Jessica Speiser will both be appointed to the board later this year.
The top issue facing board members is wait to do with Measure N money, which has been a slow and arduous process for upwards of two years. District officials and board members say enrollment growth is squeezing all of the district’s existing schools and threatening the “small school” model that they believe is the key to high student performance.
It still remains an open question, however, whether to buy land costing as much as $15 million an acre for a new school, or use existing district land at sites like Covington and Egan to build a new school. The intent for the bond money was to build a new school, possibly for Bullis Charter School, but even that has yet to be determined by the board.
Both candidates have not been openly critical of the district’s handling of Measure N funds, and said they sympathize with the tough decision current board members face in figuring out what to do with the bond money. If an easy solution was out there, the agreed that the board probably would’ve done it by now.
The hope is that whatever decision the board arrives at, the new facilities will accommodate the as many as 900 students who expected to be enrolled in Bullis Charter School by the 2018-19 school year. Currently, charter school students are split between two campuses, including a cramped collection of portables housed on the edge of the Egan Junior High School campus.
Facilities decisions between the district and Bullis have been the source of controversy and lengthy legal battles for more than a decade, and the five-year facilities agreement hashed out between both parties in 2014 is temporary. Candidates say it will be important for the district to preserve the good will with the charter school and prevent another flare-up over facilities in the coming years.
Tanya Raschke
Age: 44
Occupation: Associate director at the Stanford Neuroscience Institute
Education: Ph.D in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley; B.S. in biochemistry from Penn State University
Website: www.tanyaforlasd2016.com
Tanya Raschke has been a resident in the district for 11 years, and says she brings the kind of broad perspective needed to represent school communities throughout the district. Raschke lives in Mountain View — and, if elected, would be the only board member from the city — and has two children who attended Bullis Charter School, Santa Rita and Loyola elementary schools.
Raschke has been active in her local schools, volunteering for things ranging from reading programs in the classroom to running the hot lunch program. She began to take a district-wide approach to volunteering when she served as a community organizer during the school boundary adjustments in 2007, and more recently when she served on the Facilities Master Plan Committee last year.
As a member of the committee, Raschke got to grapple with the premier question facing the district today: what to do with the Measure N money. She praised the committee for having diverse membership from all over the district, giving the school community a say on how the money ought to be spent on new schools and new facilities, and that it was unfortunate the district decided to mothball the committee in March last year.
If elected, Raschke said she would make sure the district fosters better relationships with the cities of Mountain View and Los Altos, which have been strained in recent years. District officials ran a joint committee with the city of Los Altos in hopes that some of its civic center land could be used for a new school site, but the partnership fell apart. The district office also sent several letters to the city of Mountain View urging city planners and council members to find “creative ways” to incorporate community benefits into residential programs in order to help the district build a new school.
“The school district has really stirred the pot in terms of public land use,” Raschke said. “We need strong relationships with city agencies.”
Though the school district is home to some of the top-performing schools in the state, Raschke said she would also do what it takes to close the achievement gap, and help students from low-income families, students with disabilities and English-language learners keep up with their peers. These students make up a small sliver of the district’s population, but they are just as important to focus on, Raschke said.
Raschke’s endorsements include Mountain View City Council members Mayor Pat Showalter and councilmen John Inks, Mike Kasperzak and Lenny Siegel. Other city officials lending their support for Raschke include Los Altos City Council member Jean Mordo, and several Los Altos Hills council members John Radford, Gary Waldeck and Mayor John Harpootlian.
Bryan Johnson
Age: 42
Occupation: Former software developer, stay-at-home dad
Education: M.S. in computer science from Stanford University
Website: www.bryanjohnsonforlasd.com
Santa Rita parent Bryan Johnson said he has been intensely involved in his local school for about a decade, opting to raise his kids at home and take a break from his career in enterprise software. The decision has allowed him to be an active PTA member at Santa Rita and chair school committees on earthquake preparedness, book fairs and read-a-thons. Johnson said his experience at the school has built a close connection between him and the district, as well as the teaching staff.
Johnson’s work outside of Santa Rita includes joining the campaign committee to pass Measure N in 2014. If elected, Johnson said he would work post-haste to make sure all feasible options for how to spend the money are clearly presented to the community, changing the relatively slow tempo of facilities planning over the last two years. Earlier this year, the school board set a goal to figure out whether or not to purchase land by June, and decided to keep negotiating with private property owners on a price. Johnson plans to take it a step further, and vows to have a solid plan on how to spend the money by the end of the 2016-17 school year.
Johnson’s perspective is that the Measure N money ought to be spent in a way that affects day-to-day classroom activities to the “greatest extent possible,” which includes the needs of existing schools as well. He said he is keeping an open mind, but would join the board skeptical of the plan to purchase land at such a high cost.
One of the big issues Johnson said he hopes to address on the board is teacher hiring and retention, which he said has been a big problem. The district has “lost a lot of good, young teachers,” he said, because they can’t afford to live within at least an hour from where they work, and there’s simply not enough money in the annual district budget to pay salaries that keep up with the cost of living on in the Peninsula.
Johnson commended the district for finding creative ways “on the margin” for helping teachers, including a new program designed to help teachers get a low-cost loan for a down payment on a house, but said the discussion needs to continue. Cities and school districts in the area are dealing with the same problem, and Johnson said there’s the potential for a strong partnership to find a broad solution for the housing crisis and public employee retention.
Santa Rita has the highest percentage of families who don’t speak English, and many of the students in the higher grades are still classified as English-language learners, Johnson said. These students traditionally score lower than English-fluent students on standardized tests, and he said more needs to be done to make sure they thrive in Los Altos schools.
“We need to make sure every student has the support that they need, while also letting them find their passion,” Johnson said.
Endorsements for Johnson include every current board member on the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees, as well as former board members Doug Smith and Mark Goines. Three former Los Altos mayors are also supporting Johnson’s bid for the school board, as well as Jessica Speiser, who won her seat on the school board unopposed this year.
I am voting for to support our kids. I am voting for Tanya!!!!!!
We need someone who will make decisions based on what will bring the best educational outcomes to our students, regardless of where they live or attend school. We also need someone that will stand up for all members of our community.
Brian is a NIMBY that places the needs of his own neighborhood and demographic group above the needs of our senior citizens. He tried to defeat the much needed expansion of senior care in Los Altos. Brian also wants to turn the LA senior center into a school. He is also closely aligned with the group that thinks that spending the entire bond to place a school at 5150 El Camino is a fantastic idea.
I’m voting for Tanya Raschke. Why do I like her? Town Crier said it best: Tanya “brings a needed perspective to the board” and we like “her big-picture perspective and her willingness to forge partnership with surrounding cities.” And I would add her willingness to forge partnership with BCS as well.
I’m voting for Brian, for sure. Brian’s kids went to LASD schools. For all of her hype, Tanya is still just another BCS parent trying to seize control of the LASD Board. I’m glad the lawsuits are settled, but LASD should be governed by people who’s kids attend our schools.
BCS is a LASD School!
Tanya has the skills and professional background to do the task of managing our tax dollars. It is time to move beyond the BCS vs. LASD battle and work together to find a solution to the decades long mess previous LASD school boards have left behind.
Solutions, Tax oversight, and Get it done attitude–vote for Tanya!
how is BCS a LASD school? how does ONE member of the group of parents with a kid(s) in BCS not represent some voter interests? how does a representative of 27%(?) of Mountain View City = LASD parents not represent an Interest Group for LASD?
i do not understand LASD tribal politics mainly the ‘school tribes’ it is so counterproductive to your community
one member of a’ minority’ group can’t get/doesn’t deserve election in Los Altos?
gee – shame on you guys who spout that stuff
27% of LASD students live in Mountain View, and a similar proportion of the taxed real property in LASD lies in Mountain View too. Yet only 1 of 10 school sites (1 closed and leased out) is in Mountain View.
Now the 4 existing trustees, all residents of Los Altos, reportedly discourage voting for a resident of Mountain View to fill the vacant seat on the board. Could Tamara Logan have resigned because of disagreements with the LASD board about serving the interests of Mountain View comparably to that way it serves the 75% of Los Altos that lies within LASD?
Anyway, the LASD board is controlled by a tight little coterie of residents of the Covington area and a nearby section Gardner Bullis. Electing a 5th rep from a nearby area of Santa Rita just makes it so that the entire board lives within spitting distance of the district administration at Covington. They were all groomed by Randy Kenyon before getting the nod to run for office. Not only does this exclude Mountain View but it also excludes south Los Altos, the southern part of central Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills. It would be highly beneficial to have some different interest represented. Mountain View just happens to bear the worst of the discrimination. But why do you think Tamara Logan was forced to resign anyway? The fanatics from that area of Los Altos were trying to completely solidify their control. It’s disgusting. This is how intolerance and prejudice work the worst damage, by not even giving the minorities (of any sort) a voice in office. It’s why some nearby school districts have been forced to go to “ward” or “subdistrict” election for trustees.
So, Tanya is a perfectly good candidate to break up this sweep of members picked by Randy. She has a lot to offer and no axe to grind. There are thankfully a lot of people who see this. If you are fair, you can see this. She’s not a fanatic like the fake person Joan Strong was. We all have a stake in seeing that BOTH the traditional LASD schools and the charter school thrive.
Amongst all the Chaos in spending Measure N funds, right now the LASD Administration is pushing onto the Board an idea of buying expensive land in Mountain View and not even using it for a Mountain View school, but instead using it to shoehorn in the entire BCS program. This hurts LASD kids more than any other, because it wastes resources they need AND fails to house 1000 kids from BCS properly (in 3 years when a school building can be opened). She does represent Mountain View and she represents an independent voice not beholden EITHER to BCS or to the LASD hierarchy led over the years by Randy Kenyon. He’s been the V.P. of Finance and Administration for 25 years and he’s called all the shots in closing schools in Los Altos Hills, spending $2 Million a year on litigation devoted to squashing BCS, etc. One board member isn’t going to thwart is control, but it will bring some sunshine into the process.
Just not true! Brian organized and lead the opposition for our expansion. Fewer of my friends can live here. He does not support the Seniors in our community. He blocked the expansion of the Terraces and wants to take the Senior center and civic center for a school. He won’t be getting my vote. It’s time for change. That Charter school has great test scores. We can learn something from them.
The Los Altos School Board is in need of new stronger leadership and a new fresh voice. The LASD Board begged taxpayers to pass a $150M bond for urgently needed facilities. They couldnt wait two years to develop a plan first. Now the LASD board has had $150M for 2 years and has done nothing toward planning or solving any facilities issues. Now the LASD Board wants to buy land for Land Banking? Seriously? Enrollment growth was the original excuse, but where are the kids the enrollment in the district is down. We can not afford a Field of Dreams attitude, this is not Iowa. Enough Already. Lets all vote in someone new with a Fresh Perspective. I agree with the Town Crier, there is one best candidate and she lives in Mountain View.
The Los Altos School Board is in need of new stronger leadership and a new fresh voice. The LASD Board begged taxpayers to pass a $150M bond for urgently needed facilities. They couldnt wait two years to develop a plan first. Now the LASD board has had $150M for 2 years and has done nothing toward planning or solving any facilities issues. Now the LASD Board wants to buy land for Land Banking? Seriously? Enrollment growth was the original excuse, but where are the kids the enrollment in the district is down. We can not afford a Field of Dreams attitude, this is not Iowa.
While it’s good to see some one from Mountain View one running, I’m genuinely concerned about the authenticity of Raschke’s statements, given her Bullis background and her claim to want to represent all the communities that make up the district, particularly those NOT from Bullis, those children with special needs, minorities or those that aren’t part of the 88% of students meeting or exceeding standards.
I also question Raschke’s judgment and commitment to the democratic process and the equal rights of all students in her run for a public office.
She states on her campaign website that she most recently served as the appointed Greater San Antonio Community Association representative alongside a diverse group of school and community volunteers on the LASD Facilities Master Plan Committee. Interesting considering this neighborhood association has not had a meeting open to residents in the neighborhood in more than three years! In fact I don’t believe they’ve ever held any membership meetings except for a few ice cream socials. It appears to be a closed group of a few neighbors (with more than one Bullis parent on the board) pushing their exclusive political agenda or perhaps to pad a resume for public office. This is not fair considering many, if not the majority of children, in the Crossings attend Covington Elementary.
I would also have to agree with @Dread Pirate Roberts who points out that Tanya and her husband have a proven record of engaging in bizarre strategies whereby they habitually trash their perceived opponents on forums like this, Facebook. Quite frankly, they scare me. On that note, the chorus of anonymous supporting comments here are no doubt engineered as part of the same strategy spin.
Within the Crossings neighborhood Raschke has also been very vocal against the rights of disabled persons. She has argued on online forums that portable basketball hoops should be allowed to be placed in sidewalk handicap access ramps since people in wheelchairs should be able to use driveways instead to access sidewalks. She has even pointed out that one member’s request for reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws for ADA compliant mailboxes would come at an added expense of all members! Very impractical and insensitive.
I’ll echo the reporter who has previously stated, regarding Raschke, that it “sounds a little jarring to hear” some of the things she says. Raschke needs to explain such comments before getting my vote. Others voting should demand the same.
The only educated and humanitarian vote is for Bryan Johnson. Please, for the sake of the children, vote for Bryan Johnson.
And just like @Dread Pirate Roberts points out, another strategy of Raschke is to promote smear websites on the Voice under the guise of something else. See @Not Sure’s post above. This is classic Raschke strategy of manipulating online forums. They did the same thing in the Crossings.
@Not Sure’s post is clearly advertising an exterior website. This is against the terms of use of the Voice. Why has the post not yet been removed?
How does ONE person “seize control of the LASD Board”? It’s a five member board… it’s just balancing perspective, no?
I would be 100% supportive of having a true Mountain View voice on the LASD Board. It’s long overdue. Unfortunately, that’s just not what we would be getting with Ms. Raschke. She is a die hard BCS supporter, and I don’t see how someone who was personally and actively on the front lines of the conflict can possibly help broker a long term constructive relationship between the District and the Charter.
As a senior who is very happy with the Terraces of Los Altos, I support Bryan Johnson for LASD school board based on his strong record of support of the local elementary schools and his ability to work with disparate groups to come up with sensible solutions. We need someone to bring us together and find solutions that work for everyone.
Bryan did not block the expansion of the Terraces of Los Altos as anyone driving by that facility on Pine Lane can verify. The expansion is almost done and looks wonderful. He did lead a neighborhood group that negotiated with the management of the Terraces to address the impact of the construction on the adjacent Santa Rita School, as well as on the immediate neighbors, by providing crossing guards for the children and better visual screening of the taller buildings.
In fact, Bryan has been endorsed by Frank Verlot, a former mayor of Los Altos and then chairman of the Terraces advisory board, due in no small part to his experience working with Bryan during this process, which is a testament to his ability to work with disparate groups in good faith to find mutually beneficial solutions.
Ok, @Support Tanya, what does any of that have to do with Bryan Johnson? Can he not also provide a “fresh voice”? He’s also not encumbered by the baggage of having been an integral and active part of the conflict between BCS and LASD. It was Tanya, not Bryan Johnson who helped organize that publicity stunt “protest” when BCS refused to sign the facility use agreement and was appropriately denied access to the site. It was Tanya and her husband, NOT Mr. Johnson who was trashing the existing LASD board on forums like this, Facebook, etc. Is that what you define as “stronger leadership”? Is that the person who is supposed to represent multiple constituent groups within the district? I support those who support the District, not someone who worked to weaken it.
We could all point fingers about the problems in LASD and in other areas of our communities (such as HOA mailbox needs). But in all of the above discussion, what should have priority is which contender better stands to represent the underserved areas of LASD, such as Mountain View north of El Camino. Even the Springer School area which at least has a school has historically been a second class member of LASD. When it was convenient excess enrollment was once lodged at Springer. Arguments were used at the time that because there was only one school in Mountain View, Springer deserved to be overloaded.
I think any observer would see that Bryan Johnson has his eye out for the Santa Rita neighborhood above all. His position on serving Mountain View is not sincere. He has waffled between opposing the spending of tens of millions of dollars on a substandard school site allegedly to serve Mountain View. Lately he talks about spending all that money as a “land bank” without even opening a school for the nearby areas of Mountain View.
Consider that Tanya Raschke has more consistently opposed this waste of public funds. She wants to examine use of the spare land at several existing LASD schools before spending $70 Million on a new 3 acre parcel with an office building that would need to be razed. Not only that, but there is absolutely no nearby park which could be leveraged for joint use by the school on that site.
Any fair analysis would note that there are 8 acres at the Egan Jr High site that BCS has been using for over 10 years now. 11 acres are used for the Junior High but the usage is haphazard and the buildings need to be remodeled (except for two, one of which is the Los Altos city gym). Nearby Menlo Park City Schools has built a superb Middle School to serve 1000 students on 10 acres in a similar area.
At the same time, the one area of LASD which has 4 Board members residing nearby is Covington Elementary. This is a 16 acre school site next to a 6.5 acre city of Los Altos public park. Consistently, the LASD board has implored Mountain View to provide them a city park next to a potential school site in the north of El Camino Area. They talk about needing a minimum of 6 acres for a school including any park areas that they can timeshare. Covington is also the only LASD school with greater than 90% of its space in permanent buildings rather than portables. All of the others have at least 2 full grade levels and things like libraries and office and flex rooms in portables.
So, it is not biased toward BCS for a potential board member to recognize that there is a lot that could be done to improve the fair allocation of LASD resources. What is Bryan Johnson doing to address this? He’s still waffling around.
One suggestion would be for LASD to turn the BCS at Egan 8 acres into a new site to serve the El Camino Area as an elementary school. (LASD sold off a 2nd site that once existed on E. Portola for this purpose). This would reduce enrollment at Santa Rita, Covington and Almond, all of which get shards of Mountain View folded into their Los ALtos neighborhoods. That would make room for future enrollment growth in LASD.
Now, there’s the matter of the 800 (growing to at least 900) charter school in LASD. They are currently split between 2 sites, one at Blach and one at Egan, 100% in portable buildings–the only school with either of these to obstacles serving LASD students. Well, the 2 acres of Covington’s 16 which currently house district administration could be swapped over to Blach. There’s plenty of space there for that and they could use the already installed portable buildings quite nicely, right next to the Blach City Gym. The traffic problems at Blach would be helped by locating administration instead of a 2nd school there. At Covington, LASD could build a new 2nd school using 8 acres of Covington land and sharing access to the Los Altos park nextdoor. This would completely solve the LASD enrollment growth issues without spending millions of dollars on new land.
Let’s bank the land at Almond and Santa Rita that would be freed by serving fewer students for now, and possibly use them again for Mountain View if it’s needed in the future. For all we know a 2nd school in the El Camino Area could be provided in the future by a developer as part of a development.
I try to avoid commenting on the misleading and contentious comments that seem to be posted here by a few members of our community, but I have to make sure the truth is clear. No one forced me to resign from the LASD board of trustees.
I strongly recommend Bryan Johnson to fill my position on the board. Unlike his opponent, Bryan has been working in support of the 4700 students attending LASD school, including over 1000 from Mountain View. Since her family left district schools, his opponent has ONLY been involved when she could advocate for the 700 students at BCS.
At Santa Rita, Bryan has represented students and families of every kind in protecting and improving education. Leading the district is not just about property. Trustees need to understand the program, our teachers relationships, special education needs, budgets and the long-term facility needs.
Vote Yes on GG and for Bryan Johnson for the benefit of ALL district children.
Just in case there is confusion about the bond measure N, property owners in our community have not paid even a dime to this date.
The LASD board has continued with difficult negotiations in order to find a long term answer to the thousands of new housing units and families who are expected to join our public schools. Hacking up existing property is not the simple answer that Ms. Radke implies. It is itself expensive, reduces options that benefit LASD kids, and concentrates even more traffic.