Gilroy Prep School has announced Eliot Elementary School
Principal James Dent has accepted the position of administrator for
the charter school set to open in August 2011.
Gilroy Prep School has announced Eliot Elementary School Principal James Dent has accepted the position of administrator for the charter school set to open in August 2011.
“I’m very excited,” he said of the opportunity to not only collaborate with a “great group of educators” but also work with the same group of students – starting at the very beginning with kindergarten – and watching them grow.
He also said he’s looking forward to working in a system that’s run “more like a business is run” as far as the ability to make decisions in a timely manner.
“I just think it’s a lot more efficient,” he said.
Dent will fill the role of principal/director of the charter school, and will presumably start in July, according to an email by school GPS Board Chairwoman Sharon Waller.
“We understand the loss to GUSD (Gilroy Unified School District), but believe that through GPS, James will be able to continue working with the principals and staff of GUSD in the areas of his expertise and talents.”
Waller added details of his contract need to be solidified, but “we expect there to be no barriers.”
In his four-year tenure at Eliot, Dent, his students, teachers and parents have tacked an unprecedented 168 points onto the school’s score on the Academic Performance Index, a statewide measure of academic improvement on a 1,000-point scale. Now the third GUSD elementary school to surpass the statewide API goal of 800, Eliot’s score is 836 after the most recent test results released in September 2010.
Dent implemented Whole Brain Teaching – a method that combines kinesthetic, auditory and visual elements to engage all types of learners – to Eliot.
GUSD hopes to repeat Eliot’s success when it approved a $7,000 contract in October 2010 with Chris Biffle, one of the creators of Whole Brain Teaching, while outfitting the six remaining elementary schools with the tools to implement his strategies.
“It has been the best experience,” Dent said of his time spent at Eliot. “The progress these kids have been able to make has, academically, been a dream come true.”
Dent said he’ll miss his “dedicated” staff at Eliot, but in the grand scheme of things GPS’s long-term goals outweigh his unhappy feelings about leaving Eliot.
Even more rewarding is the vision of being able to create an efficient school model that can be easily replicated, Dent said. He explained GPS leaders want to take whatever success they experience, then pass it on to other schools not only in GUSD but also outside the district.
“I don’t think most charters open up with one of their main goals being to help the district they’re opening within,” he said. “We want to help education reform and see improvements everywhere – not just GPS.”
In terms of creating a stellar academic environment, Dent said he’s not worried about that. It’s more the little minutiae such as pensions programs, handling money and insurance – things normally handled by a district office, which GPS won’t have, he said.
“That’s what keeps me awake at night,” he joked. “Nonetheless, I’m interested in learning those details. I just hasn’t had the opportunity yet.”
GPS is set to open in August along with the rest of GUSD schools, and will be located at the former location of El Portal Leadership Academy on IOOF Avenue next to South Valley Junior High School in Gilroy.
