GILROY
– In an effort to get parents thinking about having a more
active role in their child’s education, trustee Tom Bundros will
ask fellow school board members this month to revamp the Gilroy
Unified School District’s 12-year-old policy on parent
involvement.
GILROY – In an effort to get parents thinking about having a more active role in their child’s education, trustee Tom Bundros will ask fellow school board members this month to revamp the Gilroy Unified School District’s 12-year-old policy on parent involvement.
Bundros announced his appeal at a Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council meeting last week. Fellow trustees will have an opportunity to chime in likely March 20 when the item is addressed at a regular school board session.
“It’s outdated. It’s too general and it needs more specifics,” Bundros said about the existing parental involvement policy.
The existing policy is a one-page document that says the district is committed to involving parents in schools. It gives few details on how to accomplish that goal.
Bundros said schools should have specific parent involvement plans based on each site’s most pressing needs. He also wants to see parent involvement opportunities discussed during parent-teacher conferences.
For years, the school district has struggled to get the regular level of parental involvement it seeks, from attendance at board meetings to everyday help in classrooms. Last year, Gilroy High School faced controversy over its decision to spend $18,000 for a program run by two parents that was supposed to drum up consistent parental involvement at the high school.
The plan made little impact and was continued on a voluntary basis this year.
Diane Baty, one of the GHS parents who worked for the high school last year, welcomed Bundros’ top-down approach to improving parental involvement.
Baty said the GHS parents club recently hosted a teen pregnancy lecture, thinking it would be well-attended by parents.
“We were so disappointed. We worked and worked on this and thought it would be a hot topic, but we got the same 10 or 12 parents we always get,” Baty said.
Other members of the superintendent’s advisory panel noted that parental involvement naturally drops off after elementary school. But parents of older kids are not completely lacking in concern, if a recent GHS orientation night serves as any indication, panelists said.
GHS parents organized a special winter orientation for incoming freshman and transfer students. It drew a standing room only crowd at the GHS Theater on a cold and rainy night January night.
