Congratulations to Gilroy Unified School District for a good
week. In the past week, there were a few good reasons to celebrate.
On April 20, the district GATE meeting featured speaker Shelley
Tsantes, back for her second time this year, talking about
underachieving GATE identified students.
Congratulations to Gilroy Unified School District for a good week. In the past week, there were a few good reasons to celebrate. On April 20, the district GATE meeting featured speaker Shelley Tsantes, back for her second time this year, talking about underachieving GATE identified students. Ms. Tsantes is very knowledgeable in her field, and was willing to stay and speak with parents after her presentation. Some people still don’t see the need for the GATE program. I guess those folks aren’t the parents of the more than 200 children who were recently tested for GATE. This testing happened because parents pushed for it, and Joe Guzicki followed through admirably. I am gratified that the GATE program is alive and well in Gilroy.
Congratulations are also extended to Peter Gray and the English Department at Gilroy High School. Whether RLAG meets again, or just goes softly into the good night, the reading list at Gilroy High is much improved over last year. The recommended list as it stands now is a win for students and a victory for great books. There is still work to be done, most notably on developing a summer reading list, but I am pleasantly surprised at the progress to date.
Last week, the second honors/advanced placement advisory meeting was held at the Gilroy High library. At this meeting, I found out that the honors classes have more stringent requirements than the AP classes. A student who earns a grade of “D” in trigonometry is allowed to register for an AP class, while other classes have no requirement at all.
Parents were grouped at three different tables to come up with their recommendations of pre-requisites for honors and AP classes. All three groups of parents were able to have consensus about the need for pre-requisites for honors and AP classes. The table of Spanish-speaking parents came up with the most stringent requirements, asking for a placement exam in addition to a minimum grade and proficiency or above on standardized tests.
Once again, this meeting confirmed my long-held belief that all parents are on the same page when it comes to programs for their children. No parent wants their child in a class that gets dragged down when a teacher is forced to remediate to a couple of students who are not up to the rigor of the course. Nor do parents want their child in a class where they have little chance for success. Logic abounded at the honors/AP meeting.
Finally, I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning working with the Strategic Plan Update Committee. I was skeptical going in. I have mixed feelings about the Stupski Foundation, and I was vocally opposed to the ridiculous student profiles which were a big part of the first strategic plan meeting. However, this weekend was actually productive.
I was placed in the least contentious area – technology. Our group analyzed an enormous amount of data which was compiled at the various community forums. We looked for patterns in the data to some up with a clear direction. What struck me was the vast numbers of parents who want to expand the use of technology in order to have more effective communication with teachers. Note to teachers: parents want to take advantage of the convenience of email – get with the program if you haven’t already.
Parents also want Web sites in place that can provide easy access to information that too often gets lost in the backpack. Parents and students want to be able to check on nightly homework. Most of what is wanted is very doable.
In addition, many people in the community want school computer labs opened up so that families can use school computers after school, after work and on weekends. Smaller numbers of district employees complained about some of the glitches with programs and difficulty accessing some of the student information. There are still a few people afraid of technology, or complaining about computers, but that was a miniscule piece of the feedback. Many people want access to laptops; I don’t know if students or teachers were asking for them, but that is not a request which can be filled immediately.
I certainly can envision that a bank of laptops at the high school or district office might become available in the future for use, to be checked out for two or three days at a time. At the end of this session our group came up with three recommendations concerning technology for the Gilroy School Board to consider as it adopts an updated Strategic Plan. My group was a pleasure to work with; Rob van Herk and Steve Brinkman who work at the district office, Mary Ellen Bauer from Antonio del Buono and Beth Milwid from the Stupski Foundation. Sometimes we all just get along.
