Gilroy
– The high school’s parent club will lose its second officer in
two weeks, after tensions snapped following an e-mail by Gilroy
High School math teacher Wayne Scott. The e-mail urged teachers to
stop supporting the GHS Parent Club. The club plans to file a
complaint with the district regarding Sco
tt’s behavior.
Gilroy – The high school’s parent club will lose its second officer in two weeks, after tensions snapped following an e-mail by Gilroy High School math teacher Wayne Scott. The e-mail urged teachers to stop supporting the GHS Parent Club. The club plans to file a complaint with the district regarding Scott’s behavior.
Lillian Castillo will resign from her post as GHS Parent Club’s co–vice–president at the final club meeting May 23 because of the lack of support she feels the club received from administrators and teachers regarding the GHS’ first–ever Career Fair April 28.
A district e-mail from Scott to the entire GHS staff four days before the fair urged teachers to stop supporting the parent club or its activities.
After learning of Scott’s e-mail and the fact that no teacher came to the career fair, Castillo, who said she spent more than 482 hours organizing the event, decided to call it quits.
“I’ve been slapped in the face and I don’t want to do it anymore,” she said. “I still believe there were teachers who appreciate what we were trying to do, but none of them came forward (after Wayne Scott’s e-mail). I don’t know. Maybe they were afraid. … But how can I go out and solicit support for another Career Fair? It was embarrassing.”
Denise Apuzzo, GHS’ Parent Club co–president resigned May 12 in her column in the Dispatch, citing problems with the parent relations at the high school. The club’s secretary Pam Wilson resigned earlier this year after removing her son from GHS because of dissatisfaction with the school.
According to GHS Parent Club president, Jackie Stevens, the club will file a complaint at the district office regarding Scott’s hostile behavior at past Parent Club meetings. Stevens personally filed a separate complaint Friday about Scott.
“Before all this happened with Wayne Scott, half of the Parent Club board was willing to stay on,” Stevens said. “We don’t think that Mr. Scott represents the staff (as a whole). … We really appreciate that teachers and department heads are willing to come at night (to club meetings).”
She said that teachers have shown their appreciation in the form of letters and cards after receiving school supplies donated by the Parent Club.
Stevens believes the problem lies with the administration’s lack of support for promoting the GHS Parent Club.
“I think it is the administration’s responsibility to work with parents and to work effectively with them,” she explained.
In 2001, there wasn’t a GHS Parent Club, and an $18,000 grant was used to help develop one. This year, all of the club’s officers had past parent club experience, and the club raised more than $10,000 to benefit teachers and students. Half of the funds remain for future use.
Stevens spoke of experiences where teachers at GHS gossiped about members of the Parent Club and the information got back to them. Stevens was on the board of both the Brownell and Rod Kelley Parent Clubs.
“That never happened anywhere else,” she said, and added that there is a higher level of satisfaction by parent club members at other schools.
“I think we have a wonderful relationship with our teachers,” said Jodi Syth, publicity chair for the Luigi Aprea School’s Parent Club. “It’s a partnership for the kids.”
Like most parent clubs, parents in Luigi Aprea’s help run after school programs and volunteer during various school events. They also raise money for classroom supplies and equipment the district cannot provide with its limited budget.
“All the teachers benefit (financially) for their classrooms including the resource teachers,” Syth explained.
The situation is akin to the Home and School Club at Antonio Del Buono School.
The club holds fundraisers so every teacher can take at least one field trip with students, and organizes the annual Wolf-A-Thon, a community outreach event that also raises funds for school supplies and activities.
“I can remember growing up and my grandmother being very involved with PTA. … It’s important to me as a parent to be involved,” said Sherida Brinson, the club’s vice–president.
Parents at ADB run the Arts Alive program where they go into classrooms and teach art, and read one-on-one with students.
Brinson said teachers welcome this type of parent involvement in the classroom.
“Our relationship is awesome,” she explained. “We really go all out for the teachers and we have from the beginning.”
During teacher appreciation week at the various schools, providing teachers with gifts, food, and words of encouragement is commonplace across the district by parent clubs.
While Brinson has been involved with ADB’s parent organization, she doubts she will continue next year at the high school level when her daughter commences at GHS.
“It’s a whole different ballgame than with elementary,” she explained.
Brinson attended a few GHS Parent Club meetings, but found that the experience was different. “They weren’t real positive,” she said.
The president of Brownell Academy’s Parent Club, Karin Van Herk, felt similarly. She is also involved with the El Roble School’s Parent Club.
Van Herk doubted whether she would become involved next year with the GHS Parent Club, but insisted that she will make herself available to teachers any way she can.
At Brownell, the club buys supplies for teachers, prepares the school newsletter, helps out in the office, makes copies, runs the school store and helps with grading in the classroom.
“We volunteer in the classroom to help them get the pressure off,” Van Herk explained. “You should hear the teachers talk about the parents. They let us know that (they appreciate us).”
Next Wednesday, GHS parents will have the opportunity to run for offices during the parent club meeting and learn more about its activities.
Should positions go unfilled, the remaining GHS Parent Club officers Rhoda Bress, Stevens and Bob Heisey will face the responsibility of closing out the bank accounts and dispersing the funds. The parent club will close until new members are willing to pick up the reins.
“Never when you work with your child’s school and with the best intentions is it a waste of time,” Castillo said. “You have to go where (your time and effort) is going to be the most effective. I was not effective there.”
The next GHS Parent Club meeting is at 7pm, May 23 in the GHS choir room.
