February 1, 2019

Los Altos School District Families and Community Members,

As Los Altos School District PTA Presidents and leaders, we wanted to communicate some information jointly to all of our communities in light of this week’s facilities offer to Bullis Charter School. This letter is not intended as an official PTA endorsement of one view or another, it merely serves to disseminate information to our communities so each family can engage at the level with which they are comfortable.

The PTA Presidents are receiving many questions such as how community members can find out more information on the current issues, who they can contact with questions and concerns, how can they help market LASD schools, and more. It has also come to our attention that several school communities are forming various committees/groups/initiatives in regards to the same issues. 

The support our schools have shown one another over the last few weeks has been amazing.  Our entire district will be impacted by any long-term site solution for Bullis Charter School. It is imperative for us to continue to work together for the good of our schools and the community as a whole, and we are committed to doing so.

The below is a collection of information the PTA Presidents are passing on to our communities.  To reiterate, this is not an official PTA endorsement of any initiative or point of view but intended to be an informative document that answers some of the frequently asked questions we have received.
  
What Can LASD Community Members Do to Get Involved/Informed about Prop 39, LASD and BCS Facilities Issues, and Advocating for LASD?

1. Continue to share feedback with the LASD Board. Parents can write the entire LASD Board at trustees@lasdschools.org or write individual board members at their LASDschools.org emails. When you write a board member at the lasdschools.org email, it becomes part of the public record.

2. Share feedback with the Bullis Charter School Board as well by attending Bullis Charter School board meetings or by sending your questions and/or concerns to the Bullis Charter School Board.

3. Set up time to meet with LASD Board President Jessica Speiser at https://calendly.com/jessica-100.

4.Continue going to LASD board meetings and reading emails from LASD. 

5. LASD Advocating - LASD is launching a multi-faceted marketing approach to promote its excellent schools to incoming and current parents. If you feel passionate about grassroots marketing for LASD, you can join the LASD Ambassadors program by filling out this form. The kick-off meeting is February 13 at the district office. Also, you can contact LASD Communications Director, Sarah Stern-Benoit at ssternbenoit@lasdschools.org and she can point you in the right direction.

6. Learn more about Proposition 39 on the California Department of Education’s web site.

7.  If you are in the process of leading up any other initiatives, please fill in this google doc so schools can coordinate and avoid duplication of efforts and have maximum effectiveness.

Thank you for your continued support and passion.


Sincerely,

Marcsi Elovson, President, and Andrea Bocking, EVP, Almond PTA
Gina Estrada and Cindy Zinn, Co-Presidents, Blach PTA
Trish Carballar, President, and Fionnuala Loughran EVP, Covington PTA
Michelle Lee, President and Nicole Gilliard, EVP, Egan PTA
Margaret Pettit and Jody Vandergriff, Co-Presidents, Gardner Bullis PTA
Sameer Merchant, President, Nina Hinrichs and Jeannie Tsai, Loyola PTA
Tara Williamson, President, Oak PTA
Eileen Tse and Gayle Mujica, Co-Presidents, Santa Rita PTA
Rachel Michelson, President and Kirsten Tashev, EVP, Springer PTA