GILROY
– For at least 25 years, archery has been a component of Gilroy
High School physical education classes – with no injuries.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – For at least 25 years, archery has been a component of Gilroy High School physical education classes – with no injuries.
That changed at about 9 a.m. Thursday, when a student goofing off with a bow and arrow overshot his target and hit a pedestrian on the popular Uvas Creek Trail, on a raised levee just over the fence from the school’s athletic fields.
The arrow, approximately 3-feet long, hit the male victim in the knee, according to city police, and he was subsequently taken to an area hospital for treatment.
It was the last day of archery for the class, but Gilroy Unified School District officials nevertheless suspended archery from the PE curriculum indefinitely.
“With the levee there and with the pedestrians there, I doubt if archery would be done again in the same capacity as now, if at all,” district Safety Officer Roger Cornia said Thursday.
Also suspended was the erroneous archer, a 10th-grade male who has never before been disciplined by GHS.
“He feels terrible,” Cornia said of the student.
School officials will probably decide Monday whether to expel the sophomore, according to Cornia. Until then, he is suspended. GUSD officials consider expulsion in any case of serious injury, Cornia said.
The student was disobeying class rules and deliberately tried to overshoot the target, Cornia said. He did not intend the arrow to go as far as it did or, much less, to hit anyone, Cornia added.
In the school’s 25-plus-year archery history, “This is the first incident when we’ve ever had anybody even scraped,” Cornia said.
This is because PE teachers screen students before they can do archery, according to Cornia. To take part, students need a 100-percent score on a safety test, and teachers aren’t supposed to admit students who they think might not follow rules.
Marilu Sanchez, 28, of Gilroy, was one of many joggers in the area shortly after the incident. She appeared shocked when told what had happened.
“It could’ve killed somebody,” Sanchez said of the arrow. “(The school) should discontinue that, or else build a big wall where they can practice.”
