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Los Altos: Agreement between Bullis, district hangs in the balance [Palo Alto Daily News, Calif. :: ](Palo Alto Daily News (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 29--A draft agreement that would resolve years of acrimony and multimillion-dollar court battles between Bullis Charter School and the Los Altos School District was approved by the latter Monday night. But as of 11:30 p.m., Bullis had yet to announce its decision. The charter school's Board of Directors kicked off a closed session discussion at about 5 p.m. It paused at about 7:15 p.m. to take public comment and then resumed the closed session. First reached on June 25, the draft agreement was fleshed out by a handful of members from each board over the past month. Monday marked the first time it had been shared with all board members. "We're working our way through these documents," said Bullis Board of Directors Vice Chairwoman Jennifer Carolan. "We need to make sure we do our job and closely review them." In contrast, the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees followed a roughly hour-long closed session with a public vote. The agreement was approved unanimously at about 7:15 p.m. Board Member Doug Smith said he was "very happy" about the agreement. He noted that the conflict between Bullis and the district has been a central issue since he joined the board five years ago. "I'm excited about the prospect of putting that to bed, so our staff can spend all of our time focusing on the kids," Smith said. The draft agreement is the product of both sides' desire to pass a $150 million bond measure in November to fund more schoolrooms. The district is grappling with enrollment that has increased 25 percent in 10 years. And short of building its own facility, Bullis must rely on voter goodwill to realize its goal of having its own standalone campus. Approval would mean Bullis would drop four lawsuits, most filed over what facilities the district has offered the charter school in previous years, and the district would drop one suit. An agreement also would provide Bullis with specific terms -- down to numbers of portable classrooms and days its students may use the playground, gym, tennis courts and fields -- for five years. Bullis is a public school chartered by the Santa Clara County Board of Education, but California law requires the district to provide facilities, charging only for a fair share of the cost of maintenance. According to Smith, the district has spent $1.7 million on Bullis-related legal fees in the past school year. Los Altos Hills Mayor John Radford, who stopped by the Bullis meeting, was optimistic that the agreement would be approved by the board. "It's been a long, long time coming, but I think it's a great agreement to have," Radford told The Daily News. "I'm supportive of it and if they do agree to it, I will clearly also support the bond measure." Bay Area News Group Staff Writer Sharon Noguchi contributed to this report. Email Jason Green at [email protected]; follow him at twitter.com/jgreendailynews. ___ (c)2014 the Palo Alto Daily News (Menlo Park, Calif.) Visit the Palo Alto Daily News (Menlo Park, Calif.) at www.paloaltodailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |