No matter how warm the weather, summer is over for 10,353
children. The Gilroy Unified School District opened its doors
Thursday with an additional elementary school, an accelerated high
school and couple of hundred more students.
Gilroy – No matter how warm the weather, summer is over for 10,353 children.
The Gilroy Unified School District opened its doors Thursday with an additional elementary school, an accelerated high school and couple of hundred more students. The day was not without its challenges, but school officials said it went smoother than they had expected.
The focus of district attention was the new Las Animas Elementary School in southwest Gilroy, where parents accompanied students in the playground, snapping pictures of their children as they entered classrooms. While some of the younger children bawled and had to be pried from their parents’ hands, most of the older students entered classes – made up of students who attended other elementary schools last year – with a mix of anxiety and excitement.
“I’m a little nervous but I’m looking forward to a nice teacher and making new friends,” said sixth-grader Daniel Ordaz, who walked with his mother to school.
Alongside them, cars inched the mile stretch from Monterey Road to the school at end of West Luchessa Avenue, where parked cars crammed into a vacant lot adjacent to the school’s western boundary.
Waiting for parents and students were Superintendent Deborah Flores and her administrative team, who acted as crossing guards. District officials made multiple visits to the school during the past two weeks to research traffic flow and devise ways to make the streets safer for the hundreds of children walking to school. A particular worry is the intersection of Luchessa Avenue and Greenfield Drive, where the city plans to remove a stop sign, Flores said.
“When that comes out, it’s going to be unsafe,” she said.
The district will probably staff the intersection with a crossing guard, Flores added.
Congestion will likely fade next week as parents stop accompanying their students to school, stay with them for shorter periods and become familiar with traffic patterns, she said.
Gilroy High School administrators also expect registration troubles faced Thursday morning to disappear. More than 500 students – about 20 percent of the 2,526 high school students – missed at least two class hours because they had not turned in paperwork – such as emergency contact information – or paid fees.
The formalities – which included issuing identification cards – ensured safety on campus, assistant principal Stefani Garino said. The high school tried to expedite registration with three registration days last week, mailing packets and calling parents with notification of the dates.
“There really isn’t any excuse,” she said.
However, the registration process incensed some parents. One mother, who would not identify herself because she did not want her statements to impact her son, said she was never informed of an outstanding $10 fee. As a result, her son sat from 6:30am until 10am in the gym until she could leave work and pay the fee. Only then could he join the 200-student line to get his schedule. He did not get to class until after noon.
“So we’re doing all this for $10,” the mother said. “They make such a big thing about the attendance but they themselves are keeping him from class.”
The district did not report any significant difficulties at any of the other schools, including the new accelerated high school hosted at Gavilan Colege, the T.J. Owens Early College Academy. All 61 registered freshmen showed up for the first day of classes and, because Gavilan does not start until September, had the campus to themselves. The students will take a mix of college and high school classes and will have junior standing at state universities when they graduate in four years.
“I’m just really impressed with these kids,” principal Michael Hall said. “They’re so eager to learn and I think we’ve got a program for them that is just going to absolutely fit their needs.”
District staff will look at attendance numbers during the first seven days to shift teachers to schools and classes where they are needed. If students and staff are situated, students will have a steady learning environment, Flores said.
“The longer you delay, the more disruptive it is,” she said. “We want to do that as soon as possible.”
