Gilroy Prep School has taken one more step toward becoming a
reality. The governing board of the proposed charter school
submitted its petition to the Gilroy Unified School District for
consideration and plans to hold a public hearing at the Oct. 7
school board meeting.
Gilroy Prep School has taken one more step toward becoming a reality.
The governing board of the proposed charter school submitted its petition to the Gilroy Unified School District for consideration and plans to hold a public hearing at the Oct. 7 school board meeting.
With the petition, the charter school’s organizers also submitted a letter of support from the California Charter Schools Association, a membership organization representing close to 1,000 California charter schools.
“The founding team has designed and written a top-notch petition based on sound research and proven practices and school models,” wrote Nick Driver, vice president of Northern California.
“The founding team is already rooted in your community, and committed to working closely with community leaders and parents to make Gilroy Prep a success in reality, not just on paper.”
If approved by the GUSD school board, the school will open in August 2011 with two classes each of kindergarten through second grades.
Each year, the school will add a grade with the intent that it will eventually serve students through the eighth grade.
Two veteran teachers at Luigi Aprea Elementary School teamed with a school psychologist, James Dent, Eliot Elementary School principal, and various other community members to lead the effort to open the school.
One of the school’s founders, Sharon Waller, said the charter school’s board planned to meet Thursday night for the first time.
As a charter school, Gilroy Prep will be able to move quickly with programs that work for students and scrap ones that don’t, its founders said.
Several other key differences between the charter school, which would be open to all Gilroy students, and the district’s schools include merit pay, no homework at the lower grades, a longer school day and a greater focus on cutting-edge technology.
