CITY COUNCIL … The council plans to hold a study session with state Senator Jerry Hill. The council then plans to go into closed session to discuss property negotiations over Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, and the Ventura School site, 3990 Ventura Court. The council will then consider eliminating parking exemptions, updating the city’s building code and approving a contract for the “downtown development cap” study. The session with Hill will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). After the closed session, the regular meeting will resume at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Read the agenda

BOARD OF EDUCATION … The board will hear a report from the Calendar Advisory Committee and discuss a process, timeline and “values” for determining the district-wide academic calendar for 2014-15 and beyond. The board also will discuss summer-school options for 2014 and hear a report on implementation of the Common Core State Standards. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the boardroom of school-district headquarters (25 Churchill Ave). Read the agenda

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION … The commission plans to hear an update on the Regional Water Quality Control Plant landscaping project; review the initial draft of the Urban Forest Master Plan; and hear an update on the renovation of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). [Read the agenda]

COUNCIL APPOINTED OFFICERS COMMITTEE … The committee plans to hold a closed session to discuss labor negotiations pertaining to the city manager’s position. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). Read the agenda

LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMISSION … The commission plans to hear an update on library-building projects and plans for operational services; consider renaming the Main Library; and consider library publicity and marketing strategies. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.). Read the agenda

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2 Comments

  1. Board of Education the Summer School report: This Summer School program excluded many students from the free summer school education provided to others. The report lists as “strengths” Special Education inclusion. That is not accurate. Special Education students in neighborhood schools were not allowed to have services they had during the school year. If a child needed an aide during the school year, it would not be provided in summer, so the child would fail. Regular school year teachers tried very hard to reach summer school office to ensure children were placed correctly and to find out who the principal would be. Too bad they had to read it in the newspaper after summer school ended. Teachers were told only Special Education would talk to them, but Special Education is so difficult to reach and unresponsive that it effectively kept kids out of summer school.
    Summer School under this model was really only open to two groups: children not in Special Education who needed no help, and to special education students with severe disabilities who needed special classrooms or special help. All the other Special Education students in the middle were blocked out of Summer School.
    Registration was unfair and depended on being in the right school during the school year. Senior managers went to some schools on the first day of summer school registration and helped families at these schools enroll. They did not provide this help fairly to other schools, excluding students from the free summer education. Hope the Board of Education will provide more oversight this time and make it is fair to all students.

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