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Published on 12/23/1996 All articles from this issue

LASD Board goes on tour of schools for feedback from students, staff

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By Linda Taaffe

Special to the Town Crier

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees has begun its annual school tours this month. For the past eight years, board members have visited schools in the district and met with staff members.

The board members are not on tour to evaluate the schools, but to understand what types of issues the school may be facing, superintendent Marge Gratiot said.

"They (school board members) can do a better job of managing the district if they know what's going on at the schools," Gratiot said.

Board member John Moss said the school tours allow board members to observe children learning in classrooms, meet with the staff, look at the condition of facilities and discuss school issues with the principal.

"The school board represents the community and it's our job to assure residents that our schools are run in a manner they want them run," Moss said. "We can't do that from an ivory tower. We need to go out and understand the perspective of the students and teachers to be able to communicate to the county."

Moss said the board's top concerns this year are the effects of the California state government's fully implemented plan to limit 20 students per classroom. The district added 17 portable classrooms to its schools and expanded the teaching staff to accommodate smaller classes, he said. Because the state only covers 80 percent of the cost of implementing smaller classes, the board is concerned about whether providing smaller classes by crowding more classrooms on school grounds is beneficial, Moss said.

"We want to know if it (smaller classes) is really paying the dividends," Moss said. "The students have more places to study, but is this beneficial when children have less space to exercise?"

Moss said the school tours help Board members determine the district's most critical problems.

"There's never enough money to do all of the things we (the school district) want," Moss said. "These visits help us decide where the money should go."

The Los Altos School Board of Trustees will hold special meetings in open session from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. on the following dates: Jan.16, Egan School; Jan. 23, Oak School; Jan. 30, Loyola School; Feb. 3, Blach School; Feb. 27, Springer School; March 7, Bullis School; March 13, Almond School.