Kim Lozano and her students squeeze daily into a room off the
Rod Kelley school library big enough to fit a only a single
bookshelf, a small table and the seven chairs that seat them.
Gilroy – Kim Lozano and her students squeeze daily into a room off the Rod Kelley school library big enough to fit a only a single bookshelf, a small table and the seven chairs that seat them.
“We have a messy room and we don’t have much room, but we learn anyway,” the Louisiana-native said in her lilting southern accent as she cleared books and bags away from the table to allow her three students to pull their chairs back.
A resource teacher at Rod Kelley Elementary School, Lozano is making the best of a tight situation. The district’s enrollment in on the rise and it is running out of room. The special education program has been suffering the effects, with many special education and resource teachers forced into rooms that can barely accommodate their supplies.
“In some places, we’re doing really well,” said Marcia Brown, director of student services. “In other places, it’s difficult to grow as quickly as we need to grow for the special-education students.”
This year, the special-education program served about 950 of the district’s more than 10,000 students. However, because special education students are such a small population at each of the 13 schools, the size and needs of those students can vary drastically among years, making it difficult for schools to set aside adequate space, Brown said. Populations at schools can also be affected by changes in attendance boundaries, as will happen next year when Las Animas Elementary School closes, said Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent of business services.
The real problem is that the school can only fit so many kids into a general education class and has to dole the classrooms out to those first, said principal Luis Carrillo. As enrollment increases – as it will at Rod Kelley next year – the number of rooms left for special education classes decreases.
The crunch at the special education level is symptomatic of crowding seen across the district. Five schools – including Rod Kelley – have no vacant classrooms at any point during the day, two schools have only one vacant classroom and four schools have two vacant classrooms. Only Brownell Middle and Eliot Elementary schools have three or more vacant classrooms.
However, special-education students suffer the most from the effects of overcrowding, Brown said. Some learning disabilities make the students more prone to being distracted by the noise of a nearby classroom or supplies that are within arm’s reach. A larger classroom with proper storage area would prevent this from happening.
“I think I could do more if I had a larger room, but we’re just overcrowded,” Lozano said.
Even though she has to pile boxes and books into her adjacent shared office so high that she can barely step over them, she does not complain.
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” said the 49-year-old educator, who moved to Gilroy after 26 years in St. Francisville, La., to marry a man she met on a Christian singles Web site.
As a resource teacher, Lozano helps 30 students who spend the majority of their time in regular classes, but need extra instruction in specific areas. From the tenor of her class – with kids bursting out of their seat and stretching their arms toward the ceiling to have a chance to answer Lozano’s questions – there is no sign that the cramped space is having an effect on her students. Some of her kids – once struggling – are now proficient at reading and writing and some have exceeded the expectations set for their age and grade.
The effects back Lozano’s assertion that the most important element of education is passionate teachers. In fact, the wealth of passionate teachers in the Gilroy Unified School District was what motivated her to choose it over other districts that offered her positions – such as Cupertino and Campbell – and higher compensation package, she said.
As far as Lozano is concerned, the National Fulbright Teacher – an award that allowed her to travel to Japan and study its educational system for a year – has it pretty good at Rod Kelley.
“I’d much rather have a supportive staff and a supportive school than a great room,” she said.
