Byline Brag: October 4, 2017

Ugh, I am still recovering from last night’s four-hour city council meeting. Nothing like settling in for the long haul after you see that the one thing you’re covering is the last on a long agenda.

But that’s a story for next week. This week: I was on the front page!

News

Okay, so it’s technically a double byline, but screw it; I wrote about the third rail of Los Altos school politics, it got put on the front page, and I didn’t die.

My predecessor put together a timeline of the clash between the Los Altos School District and Bullis Charter School that was a lifesaver for me when I took over the schools beat. It spans nearly two decades, but the tl;dr of it is that some people are Team Charter, some people are Team District, and they called a five-year ceasefire four years ago after years of dueling lawsuits about facilities.

So when one side puts together a community meeting about how the other side should be handling their facilities, you tread very carefully and ask your editor-in-chief for help.

Schools

You’d think that covering the district-charter divide would be enough for one week. But no, the rest of the schools were busy which meant that I was, too.

Los Altos High held rallies and a march protesting DACA.

Foothill College launched a college promise program geared towards dual enrolling high school students in community college classes.

Oh, and the Los Altos School District had a totally routine board meeting.