For the first time in years, Luis Carrillo was absent when the new school year started this week.
The educator retired in June after 38 years of teaching, leading and bucking the system to give students a good education.
All but three years were devoted to the Gilroy Unified School District. In his final role as principal of Rod Kelley Elementary School, Carrillo led it to awards and recognition that saw it ranked among the state’s best and most effective in closing the achievement gap for Hispanics.
And while no longer at his desk or playing basketball with students, Carrillo’s presence is felt in a legacy of innovation, empowering others, encouraging parent involvement and caring deeply for students, colleagues said.
“Luis is one of those educators who makes a difference long after he is no longer a teacher or administrator,” said friend and colleague James Dent, a former principal and founding director of Gilroy Prep School, part of the Navigator Schools charter group.
“His ability to focus on the needs of students while also nurturing the talents and skills of his teachers led to both phenomenal academic achievement and high teacher satisfaction,” Dent said.
“He was very serious about wanting the students to be successful,” said Mike Carroll, president of the Rod Kelley Parents Club.
GUSD trustee Mark Good called Carrillo a top leader. “He helped bring Rod Kelley to academic heights not before seen, which is remarkable given the school’s demographics.”
These days Carrillo is surrounded not by 900 adoring K-5 students, but by gardens at the mission-style Gilroy home he and his wife of 38 years, Loretta, rescued two decades ago as a fixer-upper. It’s where they raised their sons: Andres, a lawyer, Tomas, an audio engineer and musician, and Daniel, a musician.
Carrillo attributes his success as much to his parents as to the mentors and colleagues with whom he worked.
“My parents always stressed education and giving back to the community; I figured I could make the biggest impact through education,” said the Santa Clara University graduate and youthful looking 61-year-old.
One of 11 children, all college grads, Carrillo is the son of a Mexican-born laborer father, Jose, now deceased, who never went beyond third grade, and an American-born cannery worker mother, Maria Cruz, who finished sixth grade. He lived his early years in San Jose and a tiny town in Michoacán, Mexico.
After college, Carrillo in 1978 became GUSD’s migrant education coordinator, then worked his way through classroom and administrative assignments until he was tapped as Rod Kelley principal in 1995.
Preceding him was Gene Sakahara, now retired, who recalled the young Carrillo as his assistant.
“He was always looking for support and assurance he was doing it right, I saw potential in him,” he said.
But first he needed confidence, something Sakahara said he focused on encouraging, reaching a “benchmark” day when Carrillo asked him to review a form he’d filled out.
“I said no, I trust you did everything right,” Sakahara recalled. “I told him I would sign it and if he did it wrong he would catch hell from me. I remember him saying it was a real test, the fact that I had confidence in him.”
Sakahara later lobbied for Carrillo to succeed him as principal.
“He was always trying to put together programs for the betterment of kids and I really appreciated that,” Sakahara said. “I was really proud of him, he carried Rod Kelley to the next step; he made the school better.”
Carrillo said, “Gene Sakahara was a big influence, he believed in me. You always need someone who believes you can accomplish great things. I will be forever grateful to him for pushing the powers that be to give me that opportunity.”
Another major influence was Dent, who broke from GUSD’s traditional mold to join with teachers Sharon Waller and Karen Humber to found Gilroy Prep School.
It is consistently among the highest-ranking schools in state test scores, something that began soon after it opened its doors six years ago.
Carrillo was amazed by and drawn to Dent’s success at Eliot Elementary School, then at GPS.
Dent was making “remarkable, positive movement with the kids at Eliot, traditionally in the lowest performing school in the district. He dispelled the myth that poor kids and English language learners can’t learn,” said Carrillo.
Hungry for Dent’s knowledge, he and his teachers immersed themselves in the new approach, a laser-focus on teaching only the standards being tested and jettisoning everything in the curriculum that’s not.
Dent’s system, said Carrillo, “opened my eyes … it was so out of the box; it made sense, yet it was hard to put your mind around it.”
But put their minds around it he and his teachers did, and test results at Rod Kelley, with nearly 90 percent Hispanic students, shot up beginning in 2010.
“We gained 87 points in three years, up to an API of 859, and I knew were going to try to hit [a perfect] 900,” Carrillo said.
That didn’t happen because after 2013 the state used a new test. For Carrillo, however, the genie was out of the bottle.
With the help of his teachers came more innovation. He added to Kelley’s menu accelerated reading and parental leadership programs, raised student expectations and minimized monotonous homework, shown by research to hinder achievement.
“You are never too old to stop leaning or stop growing,” he said.
That openness made Carrillo a leader and endeared him to students and parents, according to peers.
“Luis has been an exceptional leader at his school. He is respected by parents and teachers alike,” said Gilroy Prep co-founder Waller.
“He had the courage to go against the grain at times when he believed his students would benefit from it. Luis led his staff to become excellent teachers who held their students to high academic achievements.”
Kelley was one of only two public schools in a sea of charters to be named an Innovative Public School. Last year it was recognized as a Gold Ribbon School by the state Department of Education.
Carrillo’s “relentless focus on what’s best for children is in large part why Rod Kelley has been so successful,” said GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores.
Another key lesson was learning the importance of empowering others, Carrillo said.
Whether it’s a teacher, a janitor, a parent or a student, the more you trust them to do well the better they will do, according to Carrillo.
“It’s not about positional power. The person in charge has to know what they are doing but doesn’t have to be in control of everything. Let people make informed decisions. When you allow that then more ideas come forward,” he said.
“The leader can’t always find the solution, everyone has to contribute, that was my philosophy, especially later in my career,” he said. “Sometimes I had to buck the system but I think in the end it was worth it; I hope I became a better person as time when on.”
As for the future, these days Carrillo is focused on his favorite bougainvillea plants, long walks, travel and basically doing anything he wants, because in retirement, he says, “Every day is Saturday.”
