Bullis Charter School

Today's Date: 8/7/2008 News and Events

BCS News and Events 2007-2008

BCS Announces Invitational Junior Olympics
BCS K-3 and 6th Grade Present "Sound of Music"
BCS 4th and 5th Grade Present "For Whom the Bell Rings"
BCS Named Distinguished School
BCS Launches Foreign Language Program
BCS 5th Grade Visits Washington, D.C.
BCS 6th Grade Goes to Costa Rica

News Archive

Bullis Charter School to Host Invitational Junior Olympics
More than 1,000 students from eight local charter schools participating
Event to be held at Stanford University's Cobb Track and Angell Field
Will be cheered on by local Olympians

Los Altos, California, May 30, 2008:

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."--the Olympic Creed*

More than 1,000 young people from a diverse group of charter schools and communities in the Bay Area will seek to fulfill the Olympic Creed as they prepare for the Bullis Charter School's Invitational Junior Olympics. This day-long event will take place at Stanford University's Cobb Track and Angell Field on Sunday, June 8, 2008.

The young people will be cheered on and awarded medals by a variety of local Olympians and athletes, including:

Ms. Susan Jones Roy, a swimmer in the 1968 Olympic Games
Ms. Nancy Lippe, a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic field hockey team
Mr. Kerry McCoy, a wrestler in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games
Ms. Sara Lowe, a synchronized swimmer in the 2004 Olympic Games
Mr. Matt Gentry, a Canadian wrestler in the 2008 Olympic Games
Mr. Vic Moreno, a wrestler and 2008 Olympic Trials Qualifier
Mr. Michael Mitchell, a wrestler and coach at Stanford University
Ms. Courtenay Stewart, a synchronized swimmer for Stanford University

"This should be an exciting and challenging event for the kids," said Mr. McCoy, noting that it will them a chance to do their best athletically, while also learning about the tremendous fellowship and respect that is part of athletic competitions that bring people from different communities together.

"We are so excited to have the opportunity to partner with our fellow charter schools in an event that will reach beyond our individual school classrooms and communities to give our students a tremendous athletic and character-building experience," said Mrs. Wanny Hersey, principal/superintendent of Bullis Charter School (BCS), a K-6 school located in Los Altos, about her decision to spearhead this event.

Hersey noted that BCS reached out to charter schools that are located within a reasonable proximity to one another in order to facilitate coordination efforts. In addition to BCS, the charter schools that will participate in the program are located in Livermore, San Jose, Morgan Hill, and Richmond. Seeking to echo the traditions of the International Olympic Games, students from all eight schools will participate in an opening ceremony that includes a performance of the National Anthem. Each school with also enter with a specially decorated banner and will perform their own individually choreographed dance routine to the music of "One Moment in Time," a song recorded by Whitney Houston for the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea.

The program will feature running relays (50m, 100m, and 400m), individual track events (100m, 400m, 800m, and 1600m), standard field events (the long jump, the triple jump, the shot put and the junior shot put), and other events that are geared toward the youngest children (the egg and cup race, football kickoff, and basketball shootout).

In preparation for the event, all of the participating charter schools are providing their students with special athletic instruction while also weaving education about the Olympic tradition into their curricula. At BCS, for example, some 3-6 graders are participating in a special elective class that is researching the history of the Olympics. And at the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Heartwood Academy, a 5-8 school located in San Jose, students are preparing for the individual athletic events, while also studying the history of the Olympics and of Ancient Greece, said Mr. David Walton, the school's physical education coach.

Indeed, for all of the participating charter schools, the value of the day will go far beyond the individual athletic victories. "We have a slogan on our gym uniforms that says, "Strength means nothing without heart," Mr. Walton of the KIPP Academy said, "And this is the mantra that informs our kids' approach to athletic competition."

And at Charter School of Morgan Hill (CSMH), students in Mrs. Mosher's art class designed commemorative T-shirts, while Mr. Cross' Technology students developed an informational website for the event. "Getting our student body involved in all aspects of this event has been really gratifying," said Ms. Laura Hagiperos, the school's athletic director. "It was great for our 7th and 8th graders to feel as though they could really contribute to the event while learning new skills in the process," she said.

In keeping with this spirit of fellowship, the BCS Invitational Jr. Olympics will award medals not only to individuals in all of the track and field events that are held but will also provide a medal to the school that demonstrates the best sportsmanship.

Hersey and other charter school principals hope that the upcoming BCS Invitational Jr. Olympics is the beginning of a tradition that is continued for years to come. As for the work involved in coordinating the day-long program with the participation of nine charter schools that have not previously collaborated in this manner, Hersey was undaunted. "We are all part of a local charter school community and we share a common experience of forming schools from the ground up. There is a bond that comes from such shared experience and also a fearlessness about breaking new ground and trying new things. It has been wonderful to see how our different schools are integrating the experience of the Olympics into their individual programs and empowering the students to take on leadership roles."

"The Junior Olympics is yet one more piece of evidence that the Charter School Act of 1992 is working, encouraging innovation and competition," said Nick Driver, General Manager of the California Charter Schools Association. "Hats off to Bullis Charter School for identifying a need and then going out and providing a solution."

More than 1,000 children will benefit from this energy and commitment when the BCS Invitational Jr. Olympics takes place on June 8 in a day of competition and fellowship that few young people are likely to forget.

The eight charter schools that will be participating in the BCS Invitational Junior Olympics area:

Bullis Charter School (Los Altos, K-6)
Charter School of Morgan Hill (K-8)
Escuela Popular Accelerated Family Learning (San Jose, K-4)
KIPP Heartwood Academy (San Jose, 5-8)
Livermore Valley Charter School (K-8)
Making Waves Academy (Richmond, 5th)
Rocketship Education (San Jose, K-3)
Voices-College Bound Language Academy (San Jose, K-1)

*-The words of the Olympic creed are attributed to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, according to the official U.S. Olympic Team website

Press Release April 23, 2008
Press Release May 30, 2008

Bullis Charter School Wins California State Distinguished School Award

Los Altos, California, April 9, 2008: Bullis Charter School (BCS) announced today that it received the prestigious honor of being a California Distinguished School. The program was put in place to honor the state's exemplary and inspiring schools. State Superintendant of Education, Mr. Jack O'Connell, called BCS to deliver the news.

"I was honored to be able to join in the excitement as these dedicated educators learned their schools earned this coveted title," said O'Connell. "From their stories, it became clear that they share a school-wide vision of excellence where every student can succeed and achieve at the very highest levels of performance."

"This award is a testament to the incredible talents, dedication, and sheer hard work of the entire BCS community", stated Wanny Hersey, BCS principal and superintendant. "Four years ago we set out to implement our vision and are thrilled to be recognized as a California Distinguished School."

Students cheered wildly as they heard the news at a special school assembly. "I think our school is the best school there could be", stated Neel Gupta, a second grade class representative. Parents were on-hand to applaud the school administration, staff members and students. "This is such a great way to honor the hard work of our entire community" stated parent Nadja Jackson. "BCS delivers on a top-notch educational program while creating an atmosphere of leadership, positive school spirit and pride", she added.

This year, the selection criteria for the Distinguished School program were more stringent than ever. A visitation team from the California Department of Education spent a day at BCS evaluating its mission, implementation and award-winning academic programs. Their review committee offered the following observations to the BCS community.

In the site team's combined 65+ years of experience we have seldom experienced the power of a vision so fully implemented. On a daily basis, the whole child is nurtured. Students participate in project-based learning using curriculum that emphasizes problem-solving, inquiry-based instruction and cooperative learning as well as curricular and extracurricular units that highlight the arts.

Most importantly, the signature practice of the school - individual learning plans for each student - sets the foundation upon which the instructional program is developed. The staff works closely with students and parents to set academic, social and emotional goals. Students fully understand and freely discussed their strategies for meeting these goals and it is clear that they are richly supported in these efforts.

This unique learning environment would not be possible without the superior leadership of the principal, the BCS board, the sustained personal and financial commitment of the founding families and the unique constellation of professional expertise by staff and parents.

In addition to the California Distinguished School Award, BCS has received WASC accreditation and has been recognized as one of the leading charter schools in the state of California. Its API scores place BCS in the top 1% of all California elementary schools. The school has become extremely sought-after by parents in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and the surrounding areas. Its open-enrollment period recently ended with a record number of enrollment requests.

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Bullis Charter School Launches Foreign Language Program
School Introduces Mandarin

Los Altos, California, October 24, 2007: Children at Bullis Charter School (BCS) are learning Mandarin as part of their required curriculum. This foreign language program is the first of its kind in a Los Altos public school. The program was rolled out to Kindergarten and first grade classes this year. While BCS has been offering languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew as electives since the school opened in 2004, this introduction of a formal foreign language program fulfills the part of the school mission that emphasizes using a global perspective to teach about the interconnectedness of communities. Mandarin will be integrated throughout other specialty areas including art, music and P.E.

"With full-time, credentialed specialists teaching these subjects, our students will be exposed to Chinese culture in a variety of ways", stated Wanny Hersey, Principal/Superintendent of BCS.

"This is not an "immersion" program, where students spend 50% or more of their day learning core subjects such as math, social studies, and science in the target language," explains Merry Kuo, Foreign Language Specialist. "The goal of our foreign language program is to encourage open-mindedness, respect for other cultures, and to set the foundation for learning new languages."

The children have already learned simple greetings and songs, can recognize characters representing their teachers' names and members of their families, and are learning to distinguish the difference in a sound's meaning based on its tone. They recently performed a counting song at a school assembly and have recorded themselves speaking Mandarin on the school's website.

Why Mandarin? The staff and board of directors of Bullis Charter School have described several reasons for introducing Mandarin. Logographical languages such as Mandarin and Japanese have been shown to stimulate activity in both the right and left sides of the brain, which may increase appreciation of visual arts while also improving language skills. People who speak languages that rely on pitch and tone for meaning are also more likely to have "absolute pitch", which can help with musical training. In addition, the number of Mandarin speakers is roughly triple the number of English or Spanish speakers worldwide and an exposure to Chinese culture reinforces the goals of the school related to global citizenship.

Current students can access the school's Foreign Language website and a third-party Better Chinese site at home, to supplement and reinforce classroom lessons. "Mandarin is fun! I like teaching my mom and dad words I learned from Guo laoshi (Teacher Kuo) that day," said first grade student Sophia Jackson. Students will continue taking Mandarin through 5th grade, at which time Spanish will be introduced. In 6th grade, they can choose to continue in Mandarin or Spanish.

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BCS vists Monticello and Washington DC!
BCS 5th Grade recently visited Washington DC and Monticello as part of their 5th grade curriculum and field trip.

BCS 6th Grade Volunteers go to Costa Rica
to save Leatherback Turtles
The BCS students were in Costa Rica to help preserve the population of the Leatherback Turtle. These turtles were on their way to becoming extinct. With the dedication and care provided by the researchers at Goldring Research Station, their population is slowly increasing.

Working alongside graduate students, the BCS students were able to excavate turtle nests and assist in releasing of the hatchlings. In all the students released about 70 hatchlings. The students were also able to see a Leatherback lay her eggs on the beach. In addition to their research assignments, the students were able to stargaze to a sky with no light pollution fairly close to the equator, snorkel and tidepool along unspoiled beaches and visit an active volcano.