An
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army of 1.4
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plans to create a world-class high school in Gilroy,
academically and athletically.
An “army of 1.4” plans to create a world-class high school in Gilroy, academically and athletically.
That’s what John Perales, principal of Christopher High School, and Darren Yafai, interim athletic director at CHS and history teacher at Gilroy High School, call themselves. And the duo is recruiting Gilroy’s best to help them run the school, they said. While Perales has been released from his post as principal of South Valley Middle School to focus his efforts on CHS, Yafai still teaches history at GHS but devotes a portion of his time to organizing the new school’s athletic program – hence the 1.4 nickname.
Come next fall, CHS is scheduled to open its doors to about 600 ninth and 10th graders who would have attended GHS, a school that has been bearing the burden of Gilroy’s growing population for years. Originally built to hold 1,800 students, it’s nearly 1,000 students over capacity. CHS won’t just divert students from GHS, it will also channel more than 20 teachers from GHS. Current Gilroy Unified School District employees credentialed in a single subject have until Friday to apply for a transfer to CHS. Anyone who is qualified may apply, Perales said, hoping to dismiss a rumor that only tenured teachers were eligible.
After the application window closes, a panel of district staff, including Perales, Gilroy Teachers Association President Michelle Nelson and teacher representatives, will conduct interviews before the high school principals make their final decision.
Working to keep his competitive tendencies in check, Perales wants nothing less than the best and will look for passion and teamwork among the pool of candidates, he said.
“I want teachers who are there because they love kids, because they’re passionate about what they do daily and because they want to be a part of my staff as a team,” he said.
Nervous about the selection process and how to build an experienced, enthusiastic staff without depriving GHS, Perales met with several principals who opened up their towns’ second high schools.
“They told me it just tends to work itself out,” Perales said. “That wasn’t very reassuring but it actually looks like it’s going to shake out pretty close.”
However, Perales said he expects more teachers than needed to apply. Otherwise, he might to have to resort to appointing involuntary transfers.
GHS Principal James Maxwell agreed that the process doesn’t have to be an unpleasant one.
“It’s the end of an era,” he said. “I’ll be sorry to see some of my teachers leave but I’ve been hiring teachers for three years with the pitch that some of them might be going to CHS. It’s been in the back of my mind from the minute I was hired.”
Maxwell said Gilroy has plenty of good teachers to go around and that if a teacher who wants to transfer to CHS doesn’t get selected this year, there will be several more rounds of hiring as the district adds more students to the school.
And as part of the interview panel, Michelle Nelson will be circumspect to avoid an exodus of enthusiastic teachers from GHS, she said.
“We’ve all been on the same page from the very beginning,” she said. “We don’t want there to be an imbalance.”
She wants to avoid the situation that happened at Brownell Middle School – her old stomping grounds – when Ascencion Solorsano Middle School opened: the older school was left in the lurch when it lost nearly a whole math department to the new school.
But like Perales, Kanani Pratt, chair of the social studies department at GHS and director of the school’s Advanced Placement program, is confident that the teacher transfers will even out, forming two capable sets of staff at each school. She won’t be applying for a transfer.
“The bottom line is that I really like it here,” she said. “It will be great to have a new school, but I’d be stupid to leave.”
In her 11th year of teaching at GHS, Pratt said she never even considered transferring.
“There’s still things I want to do here,” she said. “I’m not done with GHS.”
However, she is worried about the changed culture once four social studies teachers head to CHS. Losing Yafai will be a “huge blow to the department,” she said.
Meanwhile, Academic Coordinator Marah Kuwada does envision herself at CHS.
“There’s something about the challenge of doing something brand-spanking-new that excites me,” she said.
Kuwada, who also teaches a leadership class at GHS, hopes to transfer to CHS after it’s open for a year.
Perales hopes to have the staff roster in place before the Thanksgiving holiday, he said.
Academically, CHS won’t immediately offer many of the higher level and AP courses available at GHS. However, AP biology and honors courses will be available. An extensive list of arts, media and design courses will be offered as part of a career technical pathway instituted at the school. Students can choose from digital design and animation, drafting, drawing and painting, photography, video production and various performing arts.
Athletically, Yafai is determined to foster a fun, friendly rivalry between the two schools, if he gets the position at CHS. Like everyone else, he’ll have to formally apply for the position.
Initially, CHS won’t have the population to support varsity sports teams. A talented athlete who played a varsity sport in his freshman year won’t have that opportunity in his sophomore year if zoned for CHS. In its second year, Yafai hopes to have varsity teams in place. While sports like basketball, football, wrestling and cheerleading are a given, he’ll have to gauge participation levels for less popular sports like gymnastics and boys volleyball before offering them, he said.
Also, as the populations at the schools even out, GHS will drop from its spot in the Tri-County Athletic League and join CHS in a smaller league, most likely the Monterey Bay League, Yafai said. Then the two schools will compete with each other.
“We have to strike a careful balance because we’re not walking into this saying we’re going to be second best,” Perales laughed.
“Both schools will want to beat each other,” Yafai said, as he pored over a catalogue featuring women’s basketball jerseys. “But we want to do it with class and integrity.” Unlike GHS’s relationship with current rival, San Benito High School, CHS and GHS are intertwined, Yafai said.
“Because of our respect for the community and our respect for GHS – we’ll always have a place in our hearts for GHS – we’ll always make sure it’s a friendly rivalry.”
