A 30-year veteran Gilroy educator will step up as the school
district’s assistant superintendent of educational services.
A 30-year veteran Gilroy educator will step up as the school district’s assistant superintendent of educational services.
At a recent school board meeting, Gilroy Unified School District trustees voted unanimously to appoint former Director of Curriculum and Instruction Marilyn Ayala as assistant superintendent, a position that was vacated in September when former Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Basha Millhollen left on medical leave. Ayala filled in as interim assistant superintendent in the meantime, and did an “exemplary job,” Superintendent Deborah Flores said.
Trustees plan to approve Ayala’s two-year contract at a board meeting Thursday evening. According to the contract, Ayala will earn an annual base salary of $140,000 plus an additional $1,000 for her master’s degree, which she obtained from San Jose State University in administration and supervision. Millhollen earned a total annual salary of $136,295, according to district figures.
“We value Marilyn’s experience and longevity with the district,” trustee Francisco Dominguez said. “We feel she’s in a position to provide stability to the position.”
However, Gilroy Teachers Association President Michelle Nelson said the timing couldn’t be worse to increase the salary for the assistant superintendent position. The teachers union is currently negotiating its contract with the school district, and cuts to the teachers’ work year and salary are inevitable.
“If the district has that kind of money, they can afford to negotiate with their other employees and they’re not,” Nelson said. “They’re just asking for cuts. The district has told us repeatedly that there is no money. Obviously there is.”
According to Flores, Ayala “will be taking on more of a leadership role. Her duties have expanded.”
The job description will now include managing the district’s categorical programs, a duty that previously did not fall under the assistant superintendent’s purview.
“I don’t know of a single elementary teacher who’s not taken on many more duties,” Nelson responded.
Out of about 20 applications the district received for the assistant superintendent position, “Marilyn rose to the top of the pool,” Flores said. “Her work ethic, her experience, her knowledge of the curriculum have all been assets.”
Ayala came to GUSD in 1979 as a classroom teacher and served in that position for 17 years before becoming an elementary school principal. She headed San Ysidro, Jordan and Glen View elementary schools from 1996 to 2007, when she was hired as director of curriculum and instruction.
“I am honored and privileged to have the opportunity to serve the district in this capacity,” Ayala said.
She and her husband of 30 years, Ron – an eighth grade teacher at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School – have two grown children and reside in Hollister. Flores said she was pleased to fill the position with someone who lives nearby.
The district is also currently without a permanent assistant superintendent of business services after Enrique Palacios resigned in December to take a job closer to his home in Oakland. The deadline to apply for that position is May 14. The district originally advertised for the position at an annual salary of $133,000 and was not able to recruit a suitable candidate, Flores said.
“In general, the district is having difficulty filling positions because of our salary ranges,” she said.
The district boosted the pay for that position to $150,000, but even that “still may be too low,” Flores said.
Flores hoped to hire cabinet-level staff who lived within a half hour of the district, she said earlier this year. Between facilities issues, school-related events and student emergencies, administrators sometimes need to be around on weekends, Flores said.
Pending the school board’s final approval of Ayala’s contract, the district will begin advertising her former position and hopes to have a new director of curriculum and instruction by July 1, Flores said.
