Often during my two-month hiatus from writing this column, I had
to stop myself from writing. A lot has happened since December;
winter has come and gone and there are new faces down at City Hall
and in Gilroy Unified School District. Famous Dave’s opened as did
Chips ‘N’ Salsa. I can vouch for the barbecue (thumbs up) but I
don’t plan to go to the newest restaurant in Old City Hall. I just
don’t like what they’ve done to the facade of that magnificent
space.
Often during my two-month hiatus from writing this column, I had to stop myself from writing. A lot has happened since December; winter has come and gone and there are new faces down at City Hall and in Gilroy Unified School District. Famous Dave’s opened as did Chips ‘N’ Salsa. I can vouch for the barbecue (thumbs up) but I don’t plan to go to the newest restaurant in Old City Hall. I just don’t like what they’ve done to the facade of that magnificent space.
But let’s get to the two biggest stories of the past two months.
The city finally did right by St. Mary’s School and the entire St. Mary’s community by allowing the new science lab to be built without having to pay a bogus $19,000 traffic impact fee.
The school will not increase enrollment, even though this community could and would support a larger or an additional Catholic school.
The only new traffic generated by the addition of a science lab is the foot traffic of students across the grounds of the school. I love it when the good guys (and common sense) prevail.
Common sense is sometimes in short supply in the public schools. Now that the dust has settled with the selection of new trustee Javier Aguirre, I will be closely monitoring the board. Trustees narrowly approved allowing the Sunrise Park neighborhood to remain part of the Luigi Aprea School area. Why this wasn’t a unanimous vote is beyond me. As a parent of three Rucker alumni, I know that children at Rucker can get a great education. But this isn’t about Rucker School. The families in the Sunrise neighborhood purchased homes and checked with the school district because it was important to them that they live in the Luigi Aprea attendance area. As a realtor, I know that they paid a premium for their homes. To turn around and decide that possible overcrowding at Luigi Aprea would justify changing the boundaries makes no sense and only exacerbates the mistrust of the very folks who fund the public schools.
In another matter, luckily the entire board voted to comply with the state of California’s mandate that passing the CAHSEE be a requirement for graduation. Again, this was a real no-brainer vote, so I fully expected one or more dissenting opinions. Maybe I’m just being cynical, but it isn’t lost on me that this is an election year for many of our trustees. I am happy to know that every student who crosses the stage in June at our local schools will have earned that honor.
In the fall of 2004, mathematics was identified as a huge problem in GUSD. I remember being at a meeting where it was decided that the issue would be studied, and a plan of attack implemented for the 2005-2006 school year. As of the start of the second semester, this plan is still missing. Maybe it’s a secret plan. Either way, math remains a big problem for our students – they simply aren’t getting it.
One problem that is apparent to me as the parent of two middle school students is that not enough time is being spent in the classroom to get through the math curriculum.
My son is an eighth-grade student taking Algebra I. He gets 45 minutes a day (7.5 hours every two weeks) to get through the material and prepare him to pass the Algebra I exam. He is in an accelerated math class. When parents were sold on “accelerated classes” they were told that the acceleration would be in the content of the work. Accelerated Algebra was supposed to allow for more depth. Instead it just allows for less time to get through the course.
If he were taking this class as a freshman at Gilroy High, he would have a two-hour math class every other day (10 hours of instruction every two weeks). How anyone thinks that an eighth-grade student can be expected to master Algebra I in three quarters of the time it takes a ninth-grade student is a real puzzler. Add to this the fact that many of our ninth-grade students are only taking Algebra A (half the work of Algebra I). Middle school students who are at or above grade level get penalized in GUSD by not having an adequate amount of time to successfully complete and understand the class. Yet another clue as to why even our brightest students enter Gilroy High not ready to take on Geometry or Algebra II.
Finally, for the past few months, I have been part of the WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) team at Gilroy High School.
The school is in the process of being accredited, and an outside team will visit Gilroy High in March to decide if and for how long Gilroy High should be accredited. Quick – hide the math scores – and maybe the SAT scores, the PSAT scores, and the AP results, too! Being part of this collaboration of teachers, administrators and parents has been very interesting. I look forward to reading the final report and speaking to our visitors as they assess and evaluate our flagship school.
