The Gilroy Unified School District is poised to come down hard on parents breaking high school attendance area rules, and this time law enforcement is getting involved.
With Christopher High School’s 1,800-student capacity fast approaching – next year’s enrollment is expected to be 1,750 or higher – approved intradistrict transfer requests from Gilroy High School to Christopher High School are getting harder to come by. In turn, an increased number of parents are using false addresses to qualify for CHS attendance, according to GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores.
To address this issue, the district will initiate random home visits beginning this spring conducted by retired school administrators and Gilroy police officers to verify that families are, in fact, telling the truth about where their child lives. The projected cost of these home visits is unknown at this time, according to Flores.
She said the checks will take place at the homes of every incoming ninth grader who has had an address change between eighth and ninth grade. If any address discrepancies are discovered, students will be transferred back to their designated high school.
“Falsifying enrollment documents is a crime,” wrote Flores in a Jan. 17 letter to all parents of GUSD eighth-grade students. She warned families against fraudulent requests, reminding them of the subsequent penalty.
“If the district finds that parents have falsified documents, the evidence will be turned over to law enforcement beginning with the next school year,” the letter states.
According to GUSD’s attendance policy, parents wanting to make an intradistrict transfer request must include a signed affidavit indicating their student’s current full-time address to prove they are within the CHS boundaries.
The state-of-the-art, $110 million CHS opened up on Day Road three years ago. The campus is complete, save for the construction of a brand new sports complex scheduled to commence possibly some time this year. The project will be kick-started by a $2 million donation from garlic industry mogul Don Christopher, the benefactor for whom the school is named.
Flores believes the new track and field “will make the two schools equivalent in regards to athletic facilities.”
GUSD is addressing other facility inequities between the high schools with $11 million in campus-wide renovations and upgrades at GHS, which began last summer. The improvements include a Career Center remodel, a new athletics training facility, new projectors, lighting and teaching support equipment in all classrooms.
Since CHS opened, a total of 66 GHS-to-CHS transfer requests have been approved and 226 have been denied, according to Flores.
Reasons behind transfer requests typically include: Wanting to have access to a specific program or sport; a student wanting to be with his/her peers; the family lives closer to CHS; a parent works at CHS; a sibling attends CHS; or other “special circumstances.”
CHS Principal John Perales calls the transfer requests “symptomatic of when a city opens a second high school” and that “the new rivalry or competition is because now there’s a choice for parents and students.”
Though filled with ardent CHS Cougar pride, Perales – a Gilroy native and GHS alumnus – is quick to sing the praises of his alma mater.
“I graduated from Gilroy High School and I think it is a great school,” he asserted. “Superintendent Flores, (GHS) Principal Sanchez and I work very hard to make sure that we have two very good high schools in the district. When parents ask me which high school I would choose for my kids, I tell them Christopher High School, but of course that’s because that is where I am and I am the principal here. Both schools have excellent teaching staffs – that’s what really matters.”
The so-called “symptomatic” attitude that CHS is better than GHS is unfounded, in Maritza Salcido’s opinion. The dual immersion sixth grade teacher at South Valley Middle School is very happy with the education her eldest daughter is receiving at GHS.
“I think the difference between the two schools is a bit blown out of proportion,” she said. “We had the choice to go to Christopher High School, but I think the value of education is less about the setting and more about parent involvement and student motivation – education is what you make of it. My daughter has had a great experience at Gilroy High School, and my other two children will also go there when it’s time.”
Paul Winslow, president of the Gilroy Teachers Association and CHS English Department Chair, is quick to express equal confidence in Gilroy’s two high schools.
“Both schools have amazing teachers,” he insisted. “The community needs to understand that the students of Gilroy will receive a great education at either site.”
When it comes to comparison of facilities, however, a recent poll posted on the Gilroy Dispatch website reflects a different attitude. In response to the question: “Do you believe that there’s a significant facility inequity between Gilroy High and Christopher High and, if so, is it creating division in the community?” approximately 103 readers out of 128 voted “yes” as of Wednesday.
According to the California Department of Education, in 2012 there was a 53-point disparity between CHS’s Academic Performance Index score of 798, and GHS’s score of 745. Both high schools still scored under 800, the state’s API benchmark score.
GHS Principal Marco Sanchez pointed out that approximately 40 to 45 percent of the eighth grade students coming into GHS are English Language Proficient, opposed to CHS’s 60 to 70 percent.
“Also, as far as economic status goes, we know that higher poverty and lower income don’t help students achieve,” he added. “GHS has 60 percent of its students receiving free and reduced lunch and CHS has 40 percent.”
According to the district’s demographer Tom Williams of Enrollment Projection Consultants, GUSD has seen a recent spike in students from wealthier families enrolling at CHS.
The spike in transfer requests “is expected when a second high school opens in a city,” Sanchez explained. “I have experienced it before in other districts. Parents requesting transfers happen for a season and then it typically dies down. Some of this might also be about GHS shaking off a bad public image from being overcrowded in the past before CHS opened, but the perception is changing.”
That remains true for Principal Corina Sapien of Glenview Elementary School. Even after touring Bellermine, Mitty, Monte Vista, and Christopher high schools, Sapien said her son has opted to attend GHS.
“My son was really excited about it,” she said. “The abundance of AP classes offered and the duel-immersion program are so impressive. We are very happy with the decision.”
Caucasian
• CHS: 30 percent
• GHS: 20 percent
Hispanic
• CHS: 60 percent
• GHS: 75 percent
Eligible for free/reduced lunch
• CHS: 40 percent
• GHS: 60 percent
English language learners
• CHS: 8 percent
• GHS: 19 percent
