GILROY
– In a mid-year report on its academic program and fiscal
health, controversial charter high school, El Portal Leadership
Academy, received a thumbs up Thursday by the school board it
loosely answers to.
GILROY – In a mid-year report on its academic program and fiscal health, controversial charter high school, El Portal Leadership Academy, received a thumbs up Thursday by the school board it loosely answers to.
During a special study session preceding a regular school board meeting, Gilroy Unified School District trustees praised the school’s administrators and faculty for delivering on its promise to turn the struggling program around. In addition to breaking even financially, the 72-student high school is also showing substantial gains on standardized tests in reading and math.
Last year, GUSD banned El Portal from admitting what would have been its second freshman class, after the charter school fell short on academic expectations, lost staff and received much ballyhoo over a seminar it hosted on HIV and same-sex partners.
Next year, the school will again house a freshman class.
“The El Portal program is 180 degrees different than what it was in the past,” said Dom Galu, the district’s administrator of state and federal projects.
One of the clearest signs the El Portal ship has steered back on course is seen on standardized test results. On the math portion of the Measure of Academic Progress, 8 percent of El Portal students perform at the 10th-grade level. Last year, none did. 10 percent perform at the ninth-grade level, while last year only 3 percent did.
The percentage of students who performed at a dismal third- and fourth-grade level has tapered off dramatically.
On a test that measures how well English Language Learners are improving their language skills, half of El Portal students jumped two levels within the five-level assessment. Currently, 69 percent of students rank in the top two sections.
“I predict we’ll continue to see this upward trend,” Principal Noemi Reyes said. “We have dedication from our teachers, we have increased the length of our instructional day to 4:30 (p.m.), we believe we’re on the right track.”
Financially, the school says it’s on the right track, too. It expects to take in roughly $8,000 above spending and its parent organization – the Mexican-American Community Services Agency (MACSA) – says it will cover any deficit incurred by the school.
“We are financially responsible for El Portal. We will back them up,” said MACSA regional director Maria Elena De La Garza.
Three of El Portal’s top students recently left the program, raising questions by the school’s critics as to whether families were not getting their needs met by the charter school.
At least one of the students, Michael Cardenas, is defending the school.
“I chose to do home schooling so I could take on some new academic challenges by taking courses at Gavilan (College),” Cardenas said. “I didn’t have any problem with the school. I feel in debt to MACSA and El Portal and the leadership opportunities they exposed me to.”
