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Bullis Reaches Milestone

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The very first class of students to make its way from first through eighth grade at Bullis Charter School matriculated last week.

“This is a particularly exciting event for us,” Wanny Hersey, superintendent and principal of BCS, said of the milestone, which was commemorated with a June 7 afternoon ceremony. “Not only has it been an extremely successful class, in terms of academic achievement, but the students were also the ones who helped us pioneer our innovative curriculum.”

Six of the 24 graduating students in the eighth­grade class of 2012 started their academic careers at Bullis, winding their way all the way up through the school’s “comprehensive and integrated” program, Hersey said.

Hearing the students speak at the commencement ceremony was vindicating for Hersey, who said it was great to watch “a very full, well­balanced, articulate group of young people who are able to really recognize the benefits of the special program they were involved with.”

That “special program,” according to the charter school’s mission statement “offers a collaborative, experimental learning environment that emphasizes individual student achievement and inspires children, faculty and staff to reach beyond themselves.” According to Hersey, the school’s faculty and staff aim to create 21st century citizens, ready to excel in a variety of fields ­­ not just one specialized area of expertise. The world today demands that young people entering the workforce be comfortable working on their own or on teams, and understanding right­brained “creatives,” left­brained analytical thinkers, and all types of people in between.

To prepare students to be able to thrive in the modern world, school officials designed a curriculum where all classes ­­ from science to history to art to writing ­­ intersect and overlap. Additionally, students learn from mentors in the fields they are studying. Application developers, biologists, engineers and finance experts all have visited classes at Bullis.

Lynn Steffens, who sent all four of her daughters to Bullis, said the school’s integrated approach clearly made a difference in the development of her children, especially her youngest ­­ the only one to go through her entire primary education at the charter school.

Steffens, who was able to compare her older daughters’ experiences against her youngest, said the integrated program at Bullis took her kids “a lot deeper” than traditional school programs. The overlapping curriculum and size of the school also make for a much more intimate learning experience, where all of the teachers know all of the students, she said.

“When the kids are going through it, over time they really get to know the whole school community,” she said. “It makes a big difference throughout the year. That’s a very hard thing for a traditional school to do regardless of the caliber of the school.”

Perhaps the biggest difference Steffens noted with her youngest child was the positive attitude she had about school. When she asked her older daughters how their day went, all she would get in return was a grunt.

“My youngest gets in the car and says, ‘This is what we’re working on in school and did you know this, mom?'” she said. “She is so engaged in the academics and she is excited to learn more.”

“They just hold themselves to a higher expectation at that school,” Steffens said.

Most of the BCS eighth ­grade graduates will attend high schools in Los Altos, Mountain View or Palo Alto.

Bullis Holds Its First Graduation

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After a busy year visiting China, London and Costa Rica, 24 eighth-graders at Bullis Charter School in Los Altos said goodbye yesterday, becoming the first graduating class from the charter school since its founding in 2003. It was an occasion that school leaders had been anticipating for the past nine years.

“You’ve paved the way for thousands of other students who will follow you,” said school board member John Phelps, whose daughter, Sonnet, was among the school’s 24 graduating eighth-graders.

“You are examples of what’s possible in public education,” Phelps added. According to Principal Wanny Hersey, the charter school was formed nine years ago as an alternative to the structured learning environment of standard public schools.

“We didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing,” Hersey said in a speech to eighth-grade students and their parents.

A unique approach

Jim Kermode, eighth-grader Gina Kermode’s father, said that the school took a diverse approach to education — one that “folds in all of the different subjects” into one classroom.

Graduating student Caroline Steffens said she thought the school’s unique approach to learning was one of its greatest strengths and one she would miss when attending high school next year.

“The thing I’m going to miss most about BCS is the learning environment,” Steffens said in a video played to the audience at the ceremony.

Over the course of the year, eighth-grade students had the opportunity to travel to China, to learn about pandas and diverse cultures; London, to learn about Shakespeare and American beginnings; and Costa Rica, to learn about Leatherback sea turtles.

The trip to China was student Ian Davoren’s favorite memory.

“We got to see their homes and their neighborhoods, which were really affected by the earthquake,” Davoren said, referring to the deadly 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit western China in April.

Despite the fun-filled year, Karna Chelluri said what he would miss the most was his close-knit eighth-grade classmates.

“Having just 24 kids in your class, you get to know all of them,” Chelluri said. “And I’m really going to miss them.”

Right before they received their diplomas, the students serenaded parents and school officials with the song “I’ll Always Remember You,” by Miley Cyrus.

On to high school

And, although it was sad for students to say good- bye to a familiar campus and the friends they made while on it, they were also glad to be taking the leap to high school.

“We’re just very excited,” said Jim Kermode, whose daughter, Gina, had just received her diploma. Kermode said that his daughter will attend Los Altos High School next year.

As the students move on to different campuses, Principal Hersey hoped that they would carry Bullis’ values with them.

“My dream for you is that you will always continue to live life with passion and wonder, every single day,” Hersey said.

Bullis Graduates Its First 8th Grade Class Thursday

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Caroline Steffens, 14, sits with her classmate, Gina Kermode,13, and looks around at the pale yellow portable buildings, the playing fields just beyond them, the garden behind her.

This is their house, Bullis Charter School. It’s all so familiar to the reigning 8th graders. And it’s all going to change soon.

“I’ve been on this campus my entire life, I always think about that,” she said. That’s nine years for Caroline, who started as a kindergartener when Santa Rita School was temporarily housed at this location, and the charter school was being planned. It’s been eight years, for Gina, who came the year after. Both agree, it’s been a great place to grow.

On Thursday, Caroline and Gina will join 22 of their classmates at BCS and become its first 8th grade graduating class, completing a dream for the program held since the school doors opened in 2004.

Their first-grade class had only 20 students that inaugural year, six of whom are graduating with the 8th grade class. The entire K-6 school had 170 children then.

They’ve seen a lot of changes, they said. Good changes.

“We have more people, new play structures, more lawn,” said Caroline.

“With experience, the curriculum gets better and better, said Gina. “I like that it’s small enough that you know everyone but not too small. It’s the right size.”

This week, with graduation on their minds, they took a moment to reflect on their experiences.

The teacher-student relationships. The ability to give feedback and see adjustments made to improve their learning. The opportunities.

“I think of all the opportunities that were given me,” Caroline said. “I definitely learned about passions I want to pursue.”

And they’ve learned a lot about themselves and their learning. They have become used to giving feedback—to their teachers, to their peers—and seeing adjustments made, or making them themselves in their group work.

“Group work and project work is big at our school,” Gina said “It’s important to work as a team. Project work is important, too, to learn how to meet deadlines.”

In the small groups they work in, they’ve learned to hold each other accountable if there is slack off, and find other tasks to assign.

They like that teachers make adjustments if the individual is having difficulty learning a certain way. Caroline was having difficulty in history last year, and benefited from her teacher giving her tools that gave her other ways to understand the concepts. In science class, Gina said, students got a special paper to work with for notes. “I said, this is not going to work for me,” she said. On the other hand, it worked really well for Caroline, making her notes more organized. The teacher’s response was to ask other kids whether they experienced the same problem, and made it an option to use the new paper.

The teacher-student relationships have been key, said Caroline. It’s allowed her to learn so much better. And teachers care, both girls agreed, giggling about how their teacher even taught them a little ditty about the quadratic formula they could sing to themselves during the STAR test to help cue them through their nervousness.

And they’ve been given opportunities to create and take charge in a big way. During intercession last year, they were given the Bus Barn

Theater to use, and asked to put on “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream.” By themselves. Casting, sets, rehearsals, everything.

“You support these educators and give them resources they need and they fly—and the kids fly,” said Bullis principal Wanny Hersey.

“This is a group of students who are supportive of each other … they learn how to set goals, how to reflect and adjust, they learn that failure is an opportunity.

“That’s what I see.”

When the year first started, Gina said she was thinking far ahead. “In the beginning I thought, ‘The faster I get out of here the better,” she said. Now, she’s feeling excited and nervous and nostalgic.

“It’s really like a family, I really started to notice that this year,” she said. “I’m going to miss how everyone is so close.”

The coming year brings high school, a move from “the small fishbowl” to “the big lake,” they agreed. Trepidations aside, they’re ready. Graduation, no doubt, will be cool.

“I’ve been proud of all the things I’ve done here,” Caroline said. “There’s not one thing I wished I’d done. I have no regrets.”

Bullis Charter School Hosts Charter School Junior Olympics

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Bullis Charter School hosted more than 900 K­8 students from six Bay Area charter schools for the third Charter School Invitational Junior Olympics, held May 19 at Foothill College.

“We were proud to host the Junior Olympics to foster collaboration between charter schools in our community,” said Anne Marie Gallagher, Bullis Charter School board member. “Watching the students strive to achieve their personal best and witnessing their great sportsmanship and camaraderie was tremendously inspiring for all involved.”

Bullis Charter School initiated the event four years ago to bring the area’s charter schools together to celebrate community ?????and build closer relationships. Participating schools this year included Charter School of Morgan Hill, Livermore Valley Charter School, Magnolia Science Academy, Rocketship Discovery and Rocketship Sí Se Puede Academy.

Echoing the traditions of the international Olympic Games, opening ceremonies included a performance of the national anthem by an a cappella student group, a staff and student athlete procession, and rhythmic gymnastics and color guard performances.

The day’s events included running relays (100 meter), individual track events (50m, 100m, 400m, 800m and 1,600m) and field events (broad jump, shot put and javelin) and nontraditional activities such as soccer and football kicks, egg­and­spoon relays and basketball throws.

Students of all ages prepared for the events since fall, discovering new passions and abilities.

“As an achievement­gap­closing school, we feel very fortunate to be able to provide our students with such an enriching opportunity and can’t wait to participate next time,” said Kelly Natoli, specialist from Rocketship Sí Se Puede. “The Olympics were a great experience for our students.”

Students wrote letters to former Olympians inviting them to attend. Kent Mitchell, U.S. bronze (1960) and gold (1964) medalist for rowing; Dana Kirk, U.S. Olympic swimmer (2004); Paige Gordon, Canadian Olympic diver (1992 and 1996); and Eddie Parenti, Canadian Olympic swimmer (1992 and 1996) attended the event. Mitchell, wearing his gold medal and USA sweatsuit, led the Olympic Oath, and all four Olympians cheered on participants and awarded medals throughout the day.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there are several future Olympians in this stadium today,” Mitchell said.

“This feels like we’re already in London at the real Olympics,” said one student athlete.

In keeping with the spirit of fellowship and good sportsmanship, students made new friends while exchanging school­colored friendship bracelets during the course of the day. An electric torch, passed through the schools over the previous six weeks, finished its journey with a relay around the track by outstanding citizens from each school. At the end of the event, staff members competed in a relay.

More than 300 staff and parent volunteers, representing all participating schools, donated more than 3,000 hours to event.

Bullis Charter Students Help Homeless

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When it came time to organize the annual winter holiday party in her daughter’s first ­grade class at Bullis Charter School, Christina Mireles wanted to help the students celebrate the holidays in a way that didn’t involve making styrofoam snowmen.

Searching on the United Way website for a meaningful way for children to give back to the community, she discovered EHC LifeBuilders in Sunnyvale.

Working with classroom teacher Nancy Barlow during the weekly “Writer’s Workshop,” Mireles described to the 20 first­graders how at the EHC LifeBuilders shelter, clients in need arrive in the late afternoon, sleep for the night and then eat breakfast in the morning. The shelter then provides everyone a small snack for the day when they leave at 6 a.m.

After consulting with Elizabeth Griswold, community relations specialist at EHC LifeBuilders, Mireles suggested to the students that they provide a midday snack for 125 adults for one day.

The class discussed how serving others relates to the school’s integrated character pillars – Citizenship, Fairness and Respect.

The children brainstormed ideas for stores from which they could ask for donations and composed request letters. Their letters generated more than $170 in gift­card donations from Safeway, Trader Joe’s, Draeger’s Market and Target, as well as perishable donations from De Martini Orchards, Andronico’s and Starbucks.

Anagha Jain, mother of a third­grader at BCS, recruited her daughter’s class to participate in the project by creating 125 handmade cards with holiday wishes and words of encouragement. During their holiday party time, the classes collaborated to decorate and fill 125 bags with snacks, which were delivered to EHC LifeBuilders.

Griswold said her clients were “touched by the handmade cards and appreciated the fresh fruit in particular.”

An abundance of donations enabled the students to contribute additional items to the shelter, including 12 pounds of brown sugar, raisins and men’s socks.

First ­grader Amina Hurd said the experience made her feel “really happy.”

“I felt thankful because they had what they needed to survive,” she said. “And they wouldn’t be hungry anymore.”

“Our students gained a simple yet profound understanding of helping others,” said third­grade teacher Margaret Lim. “They learned that hard times can cause many people to lose what they have. I loved seeing their hearts reach out to others.”

Bullis Appeal May Have Far-Reaching Impact in State

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Late Thursday afternoon, the news rippled rapidly across Los Altos, parts of Mountain View, Los Altos Hills—and even beyond, to the legions of specialists who advise charter schools and school districts: The Sixth District Court of Appeal unexpectedly overturned a ruling that upheld the school district in a dispute with Bullis Charter School over facilities space.

Stunningly, the state appeals court had found against the Los Altos School District (LASD) in how it measured school facilities to determine what was “reasonably equivalent” to provide Bullis, in fulfillment of Proposition 39 regulations. Four other lower court cases had upheld the district.

“We’re certainly looking at all our options,” said a disappointed Bill Cooper, president of the LASD board. “But it would be premature to put a definitive stake in the ground.”

And it wasn’t just Bullis Charter School nor Los Altos School district officials who would be thinking about this turn of events over the weekend, contemplating what was next.

The published decision was clearly intended to have impact far beyond Los Altos.

“I have to read this decision over the weekend …it’s something I have to be aware of, said Ed Sklar, an attorney with Lozano Smith in Walnut Creek, who represents school districts complying with Prop. 39.

In fact, Tuesday is the deadline for charter schools across the state to submit their requests for facilities for the 2012-2013 school year to their host districts, so the court’s ruling will likely become part of the discussion of Prop. 39 requests very soon, Sklar said.

“We will be looking to this decision to see if there’s any further instruction to give to clients,” he added.

Representatives of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA), which had submitted a 35-page friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Bullis appeal were also expecting to use the decision in its work.

“It will be very helpful in our statewide efforts,” said Julie Ashby Umansky, vice president for legal advocacy at the CCSA. “We’re really pleased by it. “

Prop. 39 was passed by voters in 2000. It provides that charter schools are offered  facilities with “conditions reasonably equivalent” to what students would receive if they were attending other public schools in the district, and that facilities must be shared with all students of the district.

Prop. 39 compliance is also the main topic that lands charter schools in court against school districts. At any given time, there might be about five or six cases involving Prop. 39 up and down the state, Umansky said.

The court, in publishing its ruling, and addressing at length the way the Los Altos School District measured facilities space and where it was found lacking, was attempting to bring guidance to the contentious topic, and in particular what “reasonable equivalence” means.

Despite the number of Prop. 39 cases that get filed, none have given guidance to “reasonable equivalence,” Umansky said. It has been a big issue with charter schools, who are seeking facilities space from the very districts with which they are competing, she said. The CCSA’s experience, she said, is that districts often show a pattern of responses that serve to undercount facilties space, spread out charter facilties all over a district, and essentially result in unfair allocation of space for students.

“I was very impressed with the clarity with which the justices covered all of the issues,” said Bullis Charter School president Ken Moore, calling the ruling “tremendous.” Moore added that it was the first time, through four lawsuits, that a court had taken the time to look at the actual calculations of space available in a district, rather than take the district’s assessment of space on face value.

There is some disagreement about the broader impact of the ruling beyond Los Altos.

“I read it expecting lots of clarity,” said Stephanie Farland, who was the senior policy consultant for the California School Boards Association for a dozen years, primarily involving charter schools. Farland now is a consultantassisting “charter school authorizers,” such as school districts and county boards of education, in submitting charter school petitions, applying for renewals, and annual reviews.

“It just seemed like it provided more confusion.” Because there is a 2005  appeals court decision in Kern County (Ridgecrest Charter School v. Sierra Sands Unified School District) that accepted that school district’s assessment of facilities space without challenge, she’s a bit unsure which would have precedence.

One thing is sure: As the weeks go on, the decision will be finely examined by any charter school in the state that is unhappy with its space allotment and any school district that must respond with an offer.

The districts must make their preliminary offer to charter schools by Feb. 1, so the coming weeks will bring much discussion.

While only the Los Altos School District Board trustees know what the next step is, Moore is hoping that the 2012-2013 request for facilities space is met with an adequate offer.

“I expect LASD to rectify its non-compliance and look forward to where we’re given reasonably equivalent school site in time for the next school year,” he said.

Creative Charter School Wins Renewal

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Even after it won a 5-2 vote last week from the county Board of Education to renew its charter for five years, Bullis Charter School is still trying to overcome the elitist image stuck on the school when it opened for business about five years ago after a messy divorce from the Los Altos School District.

But after a slow start, the 465-student K-8 school has been able to outperform every other charter school in the state despite receiving $4,000 less per student in public funding than its compatriots in the Los Altos Elementary School District. Parents and the school foundation make up the difference so Bullis ends up with just over $11,000 per student, slightly less that the Los Altos district.

(We should also note that Bullis and the Los Altos district are involved in a lawsuit over whether the buildings provided to Bullis are adequate. An appeals court decision should be made public in about two months.)

Two of the seven county Board of Education members voted against renewing the Bullis charter, citing concerns about the school not working hard enough to recruit students of color from Los Altos and Mountain View, while filling most of its seats from the wealthy Los Altos Hills area. The charges are strongly disputed by Bullis officials, who provided numerous statistics to the contrary in their application for county approval.

For starters, charter schools are expected to reflect the community they serve, said the county board member Anna Song and Los Altos School District board member Tammy Logan. On that score, we believe Bullis hits a home run, with a far lower percentage of white students than the Los Altos district (67.7 to 51.6 percent for Bullis) and equal numbers for African American, Asian, and Native Hawaiians. Students of two or more races attend Bullis in much higher numbers than the district as a whole, (20.6 to 4.4 percent). A slightly lower percentage of Hispanic students were counted than attend district schools (5.2 to 5.6 percent), but that is hardly worth quibbling about.

We also disagree with the charge that recruiters at Bullis do not actively recruit in Mountain View and Los Altos. For the current school year, the school received 680 applications from students at 98 preschools and 133 elementary schools, with six students applying for every available seat. The school hosts a public lottery and randomly selects the incoming students. And in the current year, 30 special education students (6.5 percent) attended Bullis, more than twice the number from two years ago.

Charter schools like Bullis are succeeding in other districts on the Peninsula. Summit Prep, a high school located in Redwood City, faced similar critics when it was launched by a handful of parents from the affluent community of Portola Valley. And after enduring criticism that it was designed as a private “public” school for elite students, Summit’s lottery has muffled that charge and is proud that 100 percent of their graduating seniors are admitted to four-year colleges.

Small charter schools like Bullis can be laboratories of innovation, as well as home to students who might not fit in at more traditional schools. As a charter school, Bullis is able to create a unique and challenging educational experience for its students that could be a model for the Los Altos district to emulate. The county Board of Education made the right decision to give Bullis another five years.

Bullis Tests Highest in State Among Charters, Tops Other Los Altos Schools

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Bullis Charter School was loud and proud about its state Academic Performance Index scores this week, declaring itself the top-performing school in the Los Altos School District.

With a rating of 984 on a scale of 200 to 1,000, the school of 460-plus students fell just shy of the 988 mark earned in 2010, but its first-ever seventh grade scored a perfect 1,000. Bullis Charter ranked as the highest-performing charter elementary school and among the top 1 percent of all public schools in California.

But the school’s principal, Wanny Hersey, said repeatedly Thursday that high test scores are not the school’s goal.

“One of our beliefs is that we won’t teach to the test,” Hersey said. “We look very closely at individual students and work on them to become much more well-rounded.”

In fact, she planned her back-to-school speech for parents on Thursday night to be about “all the things you cannot measure in a test score,” Hersey said.

As an example, Hersey said students who need to improve their writing are encouraged to accomplish that in different ways, from penning letters to soldiers in Iraq to running for student council and writing speeches.

“Then they understand that there’s a connectedness to what they’re learning in the classroom and it applies to the real world,” she said.

“Because they’re effective note-takers and understand information … that’s how they’re going to be able to score well. There are many ways to do it, but we know where our kids are and we’re very lucky we have kids who are eager to learn.”

A statement released by the school’s public relations firm, Larson Communications, touted Bullis as “the highest-performing school in LASD despite operating with sufficiently less funding.”

The statement goes on to cite a 2011 report by EdTec that says Bullis students receive $3,739 less in funding per pupil than other Los Altos School District students, and that number will increase to about $4,300 after a Los Altos parcel tax was approved in May.

For the most part, district schools all ranked higher than 960, with the exception of Santa Rita Elementary and Springer Elementary, which scored 957 and 946, respectively.

Moreover, two schools — Covington Elementary and Oak Avenue — came in at 983, just one point behind Bullis Charter School.

Though Bullis and the district’s relations have been somewhat contentious in past years — replete with funding arguments and lawsuits over facilities — district officials offered their praises Thursday.

“I won’t even get into the semantics of what they’re suggesting,” said Bill Cooper, president of the district’s board of trustees. “I congratulate them for their results and I certainly tip my hat to them.”

“I think when you are in the 950 range and above, those scores are negligible,” district Superintendent Jeff Baier said.

All schools in the district beat the state’s elementary school average of 808 and the junior high average of 778.

State tests in English, math, science and history determine a school’s API score.

BCS Class Honored for Change the World Challenge

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The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge awarded Bullis Charter School’s fourth grade second place in the 3-5 grade level for its project on developing an erosion control method and preventing loss of habitat in a nature preserve.

Lynn Reed, Bullis Charter School science and engineering specialist, served as mentor to the victorious team.

Nearly 13,500 elementary students participated in this year’s Challenge, which aimed to empower young people to create solutions to today’s environmental problems. A panel of environmental advocates and science educators selected the Bullis team based on the project’s ability to resolve a current environmental issue at the school and encourage others to participate.

The students and Reed collected data, researched riparian environments and developed plans for habitat restoration. They discovered that their methods were successful in preventing erosion and restoring habitat and continue to work with staff at the nature preserve.

“This year’s group of elementary-school teams drove environmental change in their classrooms and schools,” said Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, president of the Siemens Foundation. “(Bullis students) demonstrated that no matter their age, our country’s youth are excited and energetic about solving the environmental issues facing our communities. The Siemens Foundation and its partners are proud of these students and their mentors for encouraging their peers to take action and create a more sustainable world.”

As the second-place winner, the fourth-graders will receive a prize package that includes a banner for their school and a Siemens We Can Change the World green prize and temporary tattoos for each student. In addition, Reed will receive a $3,000 grant for the school, free registration and hotel accommodations at an upcoming National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) national or area conference, a one-year membership to NSTA and a pocket video camera.

The Challenge is a collaborative effort of the Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education, the College Board and NSTA. More than 35,000 students have participated in the Challenge since its inception in 2008.

For more information, visit www.wecanchange.com.

BCS Students Excel in Mandarin

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Two Bullis Charter School students recently garnered top prizes at the 36th Annual Chinese Language Teachers Association of California Mandarin Speech Contest.

The competition drew more than 650 students from 28 California schools to San Francisco to compete against grade-level peers in Mandarin public speaking. The charter school integrates the language into the curriculum beginning in kindergarten to prepare its students to be well versed in international culture and competitive in the expanding global economy.

Fourth-graders Karina Halevy and Jacqueline Hillman received the top prize in their divisions by delivering the best oral presentations of original Mandarin speeches. This is the second time in the past few months that Karina has been recognized for her Mandarin comprehension. She recently took first place in the Chinese Essay-Writing Competition in a local competition organized by the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University.

Karina and Jacqueline participate in the Mandarin classes as part of the school’s Foreign Language Program, which will include all classes as the current fourth-graders, the class that started the language in kindergarten, move into fifth grade. It is already an integral part of the new middle-school program.