After months of controversial meetings, discussion, board
decides to keep name
Gilroy – It’s taken 10 months, but the name of the new school site that will replace Las Animas Elementary School has been given a name: Las Animas Elementary School.
The Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees voted Thursday night from a list of four names given to them by a citizen’s advisory committee. The committee of community members was assigned the task of gathering name suggestions from the public, researching the suggestions and narrowing the list of names down and presenting the finalists to the board.
Rob Mendiola, GUSD facilities director and member of the advisory committee, e-mailed the short list to the board before the winter break and gave a short presentation on the final four names earlier this month.
The advisory committee had narrowed a list of 44 suggestions down to Dale Connell, TJ Owens, Las Animas and Pleasant Valley. The original 44 suggestions included Jeramy Alan Ailes Elementary School, to honor a local soldier who died in Iraq, Roosevelt Elementary School and Bright Star Elementary School.
Having had a few weeks to think about the final four names, board members took turns outlining what their top two preferences were and explaining why. One by one, six out of seven board members said they thought the new site should retain the old name, Las Animas.
“I thought about it and I went out and I decided to go out and talk to people in the community – students and parents from Las Animas and former Las Animas students,” said Trustee Denise Apuzzo. “Two out of three people I talked to said they would keep the name as Las Animas. So, that’s my first choice. My second choice would be TJ Owens because it seemed that just about anyone that didn’t pick Las Animas picked TJ Owens.”
Many board members brought up the history associated with the name, which comes from the Spanish land grant that the majority of Gilroy sits on. Trustee Javier Aguirre pointed out that no other school is currently named after any of the land grants, which are an important part of the community’s heritage. Rhoda Bress, vice president of the board, pointed out another kind of history associated with the name – the history of students who have attended the school.
“I come from a slightly different perspective – my family is a Las Animas family,” she told the board. “Both of my boys went there, and to change the name takes away from many families’ histories as well as the school’s history.”
Bress explained that when her sons heard about the possible name change, they were upset at the idea because some of their best friends are people they met as far back as in kindergarten at the school.
Only Tom Bundros, board president, said his first choice would be Dale Connell, after a Gilroy educator who, along with his wife, has donated more than $1 million to the school district’s music program. The couple are known as music program advocates.
“Actually, I think it should be Dale and Ruth Connell, because the donations are coming from both of them,” Bundros said. “I think that schools should be named after people, and Dale and Ruth have really given our schools the gift of music, which I think is so important.”
Bundros said he thought two of his six children would have struggled to get through school if it wasn’t for music programs, pointing out that most children won’t get excited about going to school for math classes, but they will get excited about music classes.
As each board member spoke, every one of them mentioned they’d like to find another way to honor Dale Connell and TJ Owens, who was a longtime Gilroy educator and former president of the school board, because both made significant contributions to education in Gilroy.
Edwin Diaz, superintendent of GUSD, said the board should consider naming the new early high school college academy, scheduled to open in the fall, after TJ Owens because he was involved with both Gavilan and early education. It was also suggested that the new Las Animas site’s library be named after Dale Connell.
The new Las Animas school will open this fall. To view a list of all 44 original names suggested for the site, visit http://gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=198186.
