When is a public school meeting open to the public and when is it not? That’s the question we’ve been asking since Doug Smith, Los Altos School District Board of Trustees president, found himself unwelcome at two recent Bullis Charter School parent meetings he wanted to attend.

According to Bullis Charter School board member Joe Hurd, the law does not define which non-agendized meetings should be public, but it’s safe to say that parent/teacher conferences are not open to the general public while school board meetings are.

It’s a small universe after all

There seems to be a small universe of trail alignments under consideration to connect the existing Stevens Creek Trail portions from Mountain View to Cupertino. Private property rights (that is, homes in Los Altos, Cupertino and Sunnyvale) line the creek and prohibit a creekside trail portion, so an on-street connector is under consideration.

Perhaps in an effort to engage (or enrage) the creekside residents, the Joint Cities Task Force including councilmembers from the respective cities decided that residents who live within 500 feet of Stevens Creek should be excluded from participation in a Citizens Advisory Group. The Citizens Advisory Group was formed to assist a consultant, not to develop policy or vote on any alignment.

Don’t rule out potential trail sites yet

In his May 1 letter to the Town Crier, Michael Eiger writes that Fallen Leaf Lane is unsuitable as a potential corridor for the Stevens Creek Trail (“Fallen Leaf Lane ill-suited for trail.”)

His letter and the neighborhood advocacy website he references make worst-case assumptions regarding how a trail would impact his street, suggesting that all trees and landscaping on both sides of the street would be eliminated.

I had a career, and then I took time off to start a family with my husband. And while it was not my intention, I became a stay-at-home mom. Eek!

In my previous life, pre-children, I couldn’t fathom the idea of not working, of letting my education and training fall by the wayside. What would I talk about with other moms? How much advice from Oprah could I possibly handle? How would I keep my days filled?