GILROY
– When parent Robert Bickle attended a Gifted And Talented
Education meeting in the beginning of the school year, he – like
several other parents – wasn’t happy.
GILROY – When parent Robert Bickle attended a Gifted And Talented Education meeting in the beginning of the school year, he – like several other parents – wasn’t happy.
Among other concerns, Bickle wanted to see Gilroy Unified School District improve a lagging enrichment program the district offered its GATE students. In September, the district was late in starting up an astronomy class GATE children could take in lieu of regular classroom instruction. Parents also complained that the “pull-out program” teachers and curriculums in recent years were not challenging their gifted children.
Bickle complained, perhaps the loudest, at that GATE meeting early in the year. He argued that parents of GATE students know their children are a different breed and they needed teachers and a district which understands that, too.
Bickle was the proverbial “squeaky wheel,” but he didn’t “get the oil.” Instead, the Motorola engineer and Gulf War I veteran provided it.
Bickle became part of a new version of the GATE pull-out program, teaching – on a strictly volunteer basis – a so-called after-school academy course in aeronautics.
“I’ve never been one for excuses. I have a military and a business background and excuses don’t get you very far there,” Bickle said. “I saw a lot of parents complaining, including myself, but not a lot of people were stepping up with solutions.”
Days after the meeting, Bickle submitted a seven-page curriculum for the course now known as aviation challenge. Bickle teaches children about air flight history from planes to rockets and has designed a project where students have to design and construct a rocket with an imaginary budget of $1 million.
“Kids are intrigued by it,” said Joe Guzicki, the district’s GATE program coordinator. “The word has gotten around that this is a cool class to take.”
Next week GATE students will launch the model rockets they built in Bickle’s class, the only after-school academy offered solely to middle school students. Already, students have taken field trips to the San Martin airport and have sat in the cockpit of Bickle’s personal airplane.
“Everyone got a turn in the cockpit to pre-flight the plane,” Bickle said. Pre-flighting refers to preparing an aircraft for take-off.
Although Bickle is the only volunteer teaching GATE academies now, his aeronautics course is not the only enrichment academy going on this semester. A technology course taught by Gilroy High School teacher Karen Hockemeyer is teaching kids how to use PowerPoint and do Web design. And, a course by district music teacher Bonnie Jacobs teaches music concepts and piano basics.
Bickle also isn’t the only parent teaching a GATE course. Larry Mickartz, a Gilroy High School dad, is in the second run of a popular course on digital photography. Mickartz owns and operates a Gilroy-based graphic design and communications firm, but on Tuesday afternoons he receives a small stipend to teach about 15 students how to compose a photograph and manipulate it with computer software.
“I’m getting a lot out of this and I think they kids are, too,” Mickartz said. “They are curious, they are inquisitive, and they soak up information like a sponge. I had to miss a class the other day so I asked them if they wanted to just miss the class or make it up and they all insisted we do a make up.”
Mickartz already has been approached by a student who took his course in the winter for advice on a photo she is submitting to a digital photography contest.
“We’re talking about a sixth-grade student who’s now looking to put her work in a competition,” Mickartz said. “I think it’s great.”
The hands-on enrichment coupled with challenging classroom work is earning the praise of GATE parents.
“Our family has been very pleased with the after-school GATE academies,” parent Janneke Brown said. “Our only complaint is that it would be nice if those services could be offered during school hours.”
Brown said her GATE son has been resistant to some of the academies because the courses will inevitably conflict with other after-school activities, such as joining sports leagues or doing homework.
It’s a good thing parents like Brown like the new after-school academy format. That’s because more parents working as GATE teachers on a volunteer basis, or for small stipends, will be needed for enrichment courses to continue.
Given California’s budget crisis, GATE funding from the state could be cut anywhere from 11 percent to a total wipe out of funding. Despite the grim news, GUSD is promising to continue – and even expand – its GATE offerings.
“With the way the budget is going, we’re looking for more and more volunteers,” Guzicki said. “There is a tremendous talent pool in this community and in some cases all they’re wanting is to be asked to help out.”
Because the academies are being offered after school, GUSD is not required to hire credentialed teachers, potentially saving the district thousands of dollars in GATE expenses.
Guzicki said parents and other members of the community who are interested in teaching a GATE course should contact him to submit their ideas for a curriculum. Guzicki can be reached at 848-7106.
GATE after-school academies run seven weeks and are taught once a week for two hours. If someone thinks they could teach a course but are unfamiliar with how to design a course for kids, Guzicki said the district would use its resources to help that person design a curriculum.
Bickle will be happy to see his volunteering trigger more and similar efforts from other parents. But he says the district will have to do a little more to make it easier for parents to help out.
Bickle said the district told him he needed to get fingerprinted so he legally could work with children in the classroom. Bickle did that, but it wasn’t until he got to the Sheriff’s station that he learned he needed to pay $40.
“I don’t mind paying the fee. I just wish I knew beforehand because I had to leave the station and go find an ATM,” Bickle said. “It’s just an example of how they could streamline this a little more.”
