Expect to see numbers of students increase even more by next
week
Gilroy – Students packed classrooms and campuses across Gilroy on the first day of school and some kindergartners were even sent to alternate sites to alleviate the impact.
The massive influx of kindergartners was too much for at-capacity Antonio Del Buono and Luigi Aprea elementary schools to handle. A number of Luigi Aprea kindergartners, the largest local elementary school with an enrollment of 780, were sent to Rucker Elementary School.
Antonio Del Buono, which currently has an enrollment of about 735, sent its an entire class of kindergartners south to Las Animas Elementary School. While kindergartners hoping to attend ADB and Aprea exceeded space limits, the upper classes were just as jammed.
“We’re packed in every grade level,” said ADB Principal Tammy Gabel. “Every grade level’s full.”
The elementary school filled up its six kindergarten classes and sent a seventh class over to Las Animas. It also had a large number of fifth graders.
Gabel said one cause of the increase may be all the new development, particularly the construction of many apartment complexes. The elementary principal said if parents register their children before August a seat in their neighborhood school is almost guaranteed.
But if they register in August, “it becomes dicey,” she said.
“So the key is to register early and then notify us if they’re not (coming).”
Other schools throughout the district also welcomed back a healthy helping of students. Gilroy High School, which was already brimming with students last year, counted about 2,500 on Thursday. The school was originally designed for a capacity of 1,800 but portables have been added to accommodate the excess.
A second high school is scheduled to open in 2009.
While that count is about the same as last school year, Principal James Maxwell said they won’t know the true number until a couple days after Labor Day. Also, because the school now hosts an on-campus program for at-risk students, the GHS enrollment may not reflect the actual number of high school students attending the public school.
AdvancePath Academics is on the GHS campus but students attending the program are not counted in the high school’s enrollment figures.
On Friday, about 15 additional students registered and Maxwell expects more to show up Monday.
“We don’t know,” he said. “It could be 15, it could be 50.”
That post-school-day increase isn’t unique to GHS. Juanita Contin, district coordinator of enrollment and parent involvement, said about 100 more students showed up Friday districtwide.
Also because school began on a Thursday this year, the district expects another large influx Monday from parents who either didn’t know school started at the end of the week or were on vacation.
“What happened was we had a few no-shows the first day and each day our enrollment increases,” Contin said.
The district is trying to keep Las Animas’ enrollment as low as possible since the school will soon be closed and replaced with a new elementary school in the south end of Gilroy. For the time being, it will serve as the overflow school.
And the district anticipated that Luigi Aprea and ADB would be particularly tight for about a year before the new school is complete.
“So what happens is the numbers are a little bit higher because we’re anticipating the boundary changes,” Contin said.
Ascencion Solorsano Middle School topped the junior high roster with an enrollment of 790. The numbers at Gilroy’s newest middle school are the highest because about 40 students transferred in after petitioning to leave Brownell and South Valley middle schools, which are both stuck in Program Improvement status.
Schools that don’t achieve the federal Adequate Yearly Progress are placed in Program Improvement and must give parents the option to transfer to a non-PI institution.
Brownell welcomed about 730 students back to its campus and 780 students enrolled at South Valley.
