In John Perales’ recurring nightmare, he throws open the doors
to Christopher High School on the first day of school and the 600
students enrolled at CHS are nowhere to be found. Though that fear
won’t be laid to rest until Aug. 13, 2009, at least the CHS
principal can rest assured he has a team of teachers.
In John Perales’ recurring nightmare, he throws open the doors to Christopher High School on the first day of school and the 600 students enrolled at CHS are nowhere to be found. Though that fear won’t be laid to rest until Aug. 13, 2009, at least the CHS principal can rest assured he has a team of teachers.
Perales and the school district recently finalized the list of 19 teachers and one academic coordinator who, with the help of hundreds of high school freshmen and sophomores, will christen the new school, which sits at the corner of Santa Teresa Boulevard and Day Road in north Gilroy. The positions were made available to every middle and high school teacher in the district. While most of the teachers hail from Gilroy High School and call themselves Mustangs, one teacher from each of the three middle schools will become a CHS Cougar as well.
“This was an opportunity I could not pass up,” said Valerie Hunt, a veteran English teacher at GHS.
After 11 years at GHS, Hunt’s motivation for the transfer was shared by several other teachers: ready for a change but not willing to stray from Gilroy.
“I feel like it’s time for something new,” said Jeanne Baumgartner, also an 11-year veteran of the GHS English department. A longtime Gilroyan who graduated from GHS in 1990, Baumgartner said CHS provided the perfect opportunity for change, without having to leave the town she grew up in. She will also be launching the school’s cheerleading program.
“I really believe in this community,” she said. “I want to be a part of this historic event.”
Another major attraction was the chance to work for Perales, teachers said. Many had worked with him in the past during his myriad district positions as principal of and social studies teacher at Mount Madonna Continuation School and football coach and world history teacher at GHS.
GHS English teacher Emily Diaz was one of those people. The two worked through the Master’s program at San Jose State University together and share similar ideas about teaching.
“We feel the same way about teaching with our hearts,” Diaz said. “The chance to work with John (Perales) was a major factor.”
“He’s one of the most motivating people I know,” said Marah Kuwada, the lone academic coordinator at CHS, of Perales.
With only three years as an academic coordinator under her belt, Kuwada was apprehensive at first about being the sole academic coordinator for nearly 600 freshmen and sophomores in the school’s inaugural year. But she knew she wanted to work at CHS, eventually. She put in an application and went through the interview process just to get her foot in the door, she said. But when she received her acceptance letter, she was shocked.
“My chin hit the ground,” she said. “I don’t have the most experience. But after further talking with John (Perales), I’m feeling a little more confident. When you’re on the train with him, you can’t help but be excited. I see it as an adventure.”
She will join her husband, science teacher Eric Kuwada, as part of the school’s freshman team.
Eric Kuwada, who has taught at GHS for more than 20 years, has a unique relationship with Perales: Kuwada was Perales’ physics and biology teacher. With that much history at GHS, Kuwada, not usually one for nostalgia, said he’s built up strong relationships with GHS staff that he’ll be sad to part with.
“But not many teachers actually get the opportunity to open up a high school, start at the ground level and work your way up,” he said. “I’m looking forward to helping establish a climate and culture for the school from the very beginning.”
With a background in digital media, he was also drawn to CHS for its digital media pathway. The only thing he’s not looking forward to: moving 20 years worth of equipment to his new classroom.
Though many of the teachers have known each other for years, a few new faces in the crowd warranted a recent holiday party hosted by Perales, complete with home cooked Mexican food.
“My measuring stick of a good teacher is whether of not I’d feel good putting one of my kids in one of these teachers’ classrooms,” he said from his home a few days before Christmas, his three children clamoring for his attention in the background. “Of all these teachers coming to Christopher, I would love my children to be in any of their classes.”
The transfer process was a tough, yet balanced process, Perales said. With the help of Rick Alves, a former GHS vice principal hired by the district to consult in the transfer process, Perales met with all the departments at GHS and each of the middle school staffs. Every teacher who applied for a transfer received an interview with a six-person panel, including Perales, Alves, Gilroy Teachers Association President Michelle Nelson, GHS Athletic Director Jack Daley, CHS Athletic Director Darren Yafai and GHS Student Services Secretary Charlotte Valadez.
Superintendent Deborah Flores, GHS Principal James Maxwell and Perales made the final decision. The district received double the number of applications as positions available, but Flores reiterated that there will be many more opportunities to transfer to CHS as the district adds more students. Teachers who didn’t make the first round of cuts are being kept on standby until July 15 in case CHS needs to add another position to accommodate enrollment, Perales said. After that, the process of hiring teachers for the school’s second year – when there will be freshmen, sophomores and juniors – will begin anew and teachers will have to reapply for a transfer.
Perales plans to add a vice principal position in March and begin advertising for coaching positions after the winter break.
“I was intimately involved in this process from beginning to end,” Flores said. “I can’t imagine it being done better. It was objective, fair and faithful to the concept of creating two equal high schools.”
Though teacher evaluations were not brought into the interviews, Flores said each teacher’s overall performance was a factor during the hiring process, to determine which teachers would be a good match. Flores said the panel went to “great lengths” to make sure both staffs were strong.
“There are great teachers at both schools after this process was completed,” Flores said. “We did what was in the best interests of both schools.”
CHS will be home to a very diverse population of teachers, from newer teachers to veterans, she said. “We wanted to avoid the belief that all the best teachers went to CHS and I’m very pleased with this process,” she said.
