The flames from the roasting that GUSD Superintendent Dr. Debbie Flores received in the Rod Kelley Elementary School Auditorium Tuesday night had barely died down before she was forced into explanation mode again Wednesday.
At a special joint meeting between GUSD and City Council in the Community Room at Gilroy Police Department, Flores once again fired up her PowerPoint presentation about the district’s fiscal woes. In front of about 25 parents and children and a smattering of Council members, Flores explained what she knew and when she knew it.
James Hayes, parent of a senior at Christopher High School and an eighth-grader at Brownell Middle School, wanted to know just what was happening in the business office on Flores’ watch.
“Was there any indication of malfeasance?” Hayes asked.
As she had done the day before, Flores stamped on the fire that once again threatened to rise up.
“None whatsoever, you can ask Nimrat Johal (Santa Clara County’s fiscal advisor) that yourself, none whatsoever,” was Flores’ unequivocal response.
Flores’ budget update question and answer session was only one of the highlights on the agenda for the joint meeting. The joint meetings are held three or four times a year, depending on what’s going on with either agency, according to City Clerk Shawna Freels. The next meeting hasn’t been scheduled yet, Freels said, but it typically takes place when GUSD is back in session after summer break.
Meeting highlights:
School Safety Measures
Cheryl Galloway, an energy education specialist for GUSD, provided an update to Council on measures taken by GUSD to beef up security in the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn.
In her presentation, Galloway detailed plans to, among other things, improve safety glass, erect fences and to change the types of door locks used at all of GUSD’s schools.
Audience member Mike Carroll asked if there was a time frame for getting all of the work done.
“There has been no funding set aside,” was Flores’ dry response, less than 20 minutes after explaining how the district was strapped for cash.
Vehicle Emissions Reductions Based at Schools (VERBS) Project Updates
Gilroy’s Public Works Director Rick Smelser kept everyone abreast of the City’s efforts to make getting to school safer for local children. However, Smelser verged into esoteric territory when he praised the three miles of new thermoplastic striping for bike routes being put down in the city.
“You might want to explain thermoplastic,” Mayor Don Gage said.
According to Smelser, thermoplastic is a highly visible, light-reflective plastic material that outlasts regular road painting by several years.
The work to improve sidewalks, ramps near schools that satisfy the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , striping, crosswalks, flashing beacons and new, lime-green signage will be wrapped up by May, Smelser said.
GUSD News
GUSD board trustee Jaime Rosso ended the evening on a high note when he reported the overwhelmingly positive initial findings of a visit by representatives from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
“This is a huge feather in the cap of GUSD and Gilroy,” Rosso beamed.
One of the six representatives from WASC, Rosso explained, had inspected 40 schools in her career and had been bowled over by the work being done at Christopher High School.
As he scanned the faces of the people present, Rosso spelled out why locals should be proud of GUSD.
“We have a lot of good things going on, we are focused on student achievement,” Rosso asserted. “We have a solid record.”
