Gilroy’s high school curriculum might look a little different in
coming years if the Gilroy Unified School District Board of
Trustees approves the recommendations of a special graduation
requirements task force.
Gilroy’s high school curriculum might look a little different in coming years if the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees approves the recommendations of a special graduation requirements task force.
The changes include adding an extra year of math to the curriculum beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, upping the current requirement of two years. Additionally, the task force wants to investigate the placement of a semester-long health class in the middle- or high-school curriculum. The task force recommended no changes to graduation requirements in the subject areas of science, English and foreign language.
The task force is made up of parents, teachers, principals and district administrators and its purpose is to “review and align current GHS graduation requirements with post-secondary schools and work expectations, state assessments, and legal mandates and make recommendations for improvement,” according to a slide show the task force presented at the last school board meeting.
The task force was approved and organized by the board last fall. Due to overriding priorities, the task force postponed its recommendations until the last board meeting, after months of analysis and discussion.
“A health class is desperately needed,” said South Valley Middle School principal John Perales, who cited nationwide rates of teen pregnancy and drug use at younger ages. “We need to look at a health class between seventh and eighth grades. Unless we meet these students’ social and emotional needs, we can’t teach them.”
GHS has fulfilled the minimal state requirements by integrating a “life skills” component into the biology curriculum, said Gilroy High School principal James Maxwell, but agreed that a more in depth course would be a favorable change. “My whole career, a quarter- to semester-long (health) course was taught in the ninth grade. It was an outstanding, rigorous course,” he said.
Nicky Austin, science department chairwoman at GHS and a member of the task force, said that the health component was covered in the ninth- and 10-grade biology courses during the last couple weeks of the year. Basically the students complete a series of worksheets that covers everything from social and life management skills to drug use. Their written work is not accompanied by homework or extensive in-class instruction, she said.
“To do it justice, the kids need the health class, the teacher, the book,” Austin said of integrating a semester-long class devoted to health and life skills into the high school’s curriculum. Austin said most biology teachers also teach a unit on sex education that the students “perk up and really listen to.”
Laura Barrios, a sophomore at GHS, said she thought a health class would be a good idea.
“What if parents don’t talk to their kids about that that kind of thing?” she pointed out, referring to issues such as human sexuality and drug use.
Fellow sophomore, Annmarie Rosado, agreed that it would be good for kids to know what’s going on with health issues and that a class would be a great way to find out.
“I strongly believe that students are not only dealing with academic issues but they also have health issues that they need to understand,” Trustee Javier Aguirre said.
The board was receptive to the task force’s recommendations and will reconvene at the December board meeting to further discuss the issues and vote on whether or not to adopt the recommendations.
