By new columist Rob van Herk
Karin and I and our three children moved to Gilroy three years
ago. The first year we weren’t really involved in local activities.
Moving from Colorado Springs, living in a rental apartment in San
Jose for a few months, commuting to Sunnyvale every day and then
purchasing a home in Gilroy was enough excitement.
By new columist Rob van Herk
Karin and I and our three children moved to Gilroy three years ago. The first year we weren’t really involved in local activities. Moving from Colorado Springs, living in a rental apartment in San Jose for a few months, commuting to Sunnyvale every day and then purchasing a home in Gilroy was enough excitement. So we didn’t pay all that much attention to the bond measure the Gilroy Unified School District had on the ballot in March of 2002.
During the election I was on vacation in Holland and I remember looking up the election results on the Web. The measure failed to get the two-thirds majority by only 146 votes. That was so close and disappointing.
Our oldest children are Gifted and Talented identified and a few weeks after the election, one of them came home and mentioned proudly that his teacher had appointed him “teacher-helper.” It meant that he was spending a lot of time assisting the teacher filing papers and the feeling I got from this was that this “job” assignment had to do with the fact that he was significantly ahead of the rest of the class in language and math. I asked the teacher for a short meeting to discuss whether this was the best use of class time.
We had a very pleasant conversation but I didn’t walk away with the feeling that anything would change.
Then, a few weeks later, I heard about a GATE meeting at the district office. It was a meeting where parents were asked to provide input to the GATE coordinator, Arlando Smith. The meeting started, we broke up in small groups and I remember as if it were yesterday the argument that followed when I brought up my thoughts with Mr. Smith.
He kept focusing on “closing the gap” and I kept asking what he was planning to do for the GATE students if he was spending all available money on the “below basic students.” He asked for patience and for me to trust him. He emphasized how important it was to focus on the students who needed the support the most. The fact that we were in a GATE meeting didn’t seem to matter to him.
A few months later, a day after his employment with the school district had ended, he wrote a guest column in this newspaper accusing GATE parents of being elitists and making a case that GATE students already were blessed enough and didn’t need the “extra” attention.
These three things were enough for me to get involved. I attended many board meetings, GATE meetings, and school open houses in order to work on trying to understand the world of education.
Two years later, I’ve learned a lot, but I’m still learning daily! For a year I worked as a volunteer maintaining the district’s web site. When the district was looking for a new IT manager with a focus on databases and business analysis, I applied for the job and was hired.
Recently, I added the writing of a Web log (blog) to my list of communication related activities like working on the web site and writing a weekly e-mail newsletter.
What got me involved with the GUSD was the lack of focus on the academic potential of many of our students in Gilroy and the failed bond. Compared to just a few years ago, I see some significant improvements.
Thanks to Superintendent Edwin Diaz, the Alliance for Academic Excellence, and many active parents, teachers, and administrators, our GATE students and students who score above the 80th percentile are on the radar and are getting more attention. I’m excited about the focus on academic rigor for all students. But we have a long way to go. Too many of our students are below grade level while at the same time too many students are bored and not challenged.
It’s going to be fun to cross words with seasoned columnists Cynthia Walker, Doug Meier, and Denise Apuzzo. I’ll try to provide a critical opinion which will undoubtedly be influenced by teachers and other employees in the District as I work with them on a daily basis. But my opinions are also based on my own school time in Holland and the experiences my wife and I have as parents of three children who attended schools in two countries, in two states, and in four school districts.
I look forward to hearing from the readers. I’m not sure my writing will reveal my character, but I hope it will add a different perspective on education in Gilroy.
Rob van Herk, his wife Karin and their three children have been living in Gilroy for three years. He is the technology manager for Gilroy Unified. You can reach him at ro*@*****rk.com. His column will be published each Monday.
