The ongoing battle between Bullis Charter School and the Los Altos School District appears to be escalating — with the heads of both organizations accusing the other of breaking the law.
The head of the charter school is saying the district is illegally pursuing purchase of a property outside of the district, while the superintendent of the district is accusing the charter of holding private meetings that ought to be public.
On April 24, BCS released a statement claiming that the district was discriminating against current and would-be charter school students by paying a $50,000 security deposit for a chance at purchasing the Raynor Activity Center in Sunnyvale, which the district would presumably then propose as a future site for BCS.
Ken Moore, chair of the BCS board, said his school would not consider relocating to the site, which he claimed is located 8 miles outside of the district. Moore said the district would be breaking the law if it bought the site using taxpayer funds.
With the bid on the Raynor Activity Center, Moore said that LASD was “escalating” the conflict between the two educational organizations.
LASD Superintendent Doug Smith said that the district had placed $50,000 down for the opportunity to bid on the Raynor site. The money is refundable, he noted.
According to Smith, the district’s lawyers believe that they are allowed to purchase the site for BCS, as the school was chartered by the county, not by the district. He said that he believes Bullis is the one breaking the law.
Smith said he has been repeatedly told he is not allowed to attend meetings for the Bullis Charter School community. The last time Smith went to a Bullis meeting, the principal of BCS threatened to have him arrested, he said.
Given that charter schools are public organizations, and considering that BCS impacts the LASD community, Smith said he believes he ought to be allowed to attend. In fact, he said, anyone should be allowed to attend. “If you’re a public school, your meetings should be open to the public.”
