We take a look at some of the biggest stories of the week. This
week: One in four students drop out in Gilroy, a Gilroy man is
suspected of shooting and killing a man outside the Palo Alto City
Hall parking garage and the Gilroy police chief refutes conclusions
of a staffing report.
1. One in four students dropout in Gilroy
Gilroy students are dropping out at a faster pace than county and state students, according to data provided by the California Department of Education.
Based on one year of data, Gilroy’s high school four-year estimated dropout rate is 26.7 percent, higher than both the county and state rates of 20.2 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively.
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3. Police chief: Look again
The city did not get its $55,000 worth when it hired a consultant to analyze the workings of the police department last year, and a city-wide hiring freeze coupled with potential retirements later this year could mean fewer officers dealing with a growing town, the police chief said.
More than three months after joining the Gilroy Police Department, Chief Denise Turner has had enough time to pick apart a detailed report prepared by Matrix Consulting Group. The report took nearly all of 2007 to complete and recommended cutting civilian positions and hiring more officers with longer shifts to give them more time to “proactively” patrol the streets instead of responding to calls. But these recommendations relied on vague statistics that inaccurately portrayed what officers actually did on calls, Turner said.
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