On Tuesday evening I attended the first District Gifted and
Talented Education meeting of the year.
On Tuesday evening I attended the first District Gifted and Talented Education meeting of the year. It has now been six months since the District GATE meeting which prompted my column that was headlined “No room at Gilroy High Inn for our brightest students.”
That meeting also spurred on the revitalized Alliance for Academic Excellence to push the District to offer honors classes at Gilroy High for ninth and tenth graders. It became apparent at that meeting six months ago that Arlando Smith (the person heading up the GATE program) had no interest in the GATE program.
In a guest column published in the Dispatch, he ridiculed the parents of these students, accusing them of everything from racism to elitism to dysfunction, because they refused to stop advocating for their children.
What has happened over the past six months? Well, there have been some good changes to report. We now have a principal at Gilroy High School who is genuinely interested in meeting the needs of all the students. He has supported the implementation of an honors pilot for ninth graders, and is working with parents of those students who are seeking a more rigorous and challenging course of study.
The group which was touted as opposition to an honors program by the former principal at Gilroy High School has met with the Academic Alliance and they are supportive of the pilot program.
The majority of the parents in the Community Alliance were not in opposition to the program, they were merely misinformed that the Alliance for Academic Excellence was seeking a program limited to GATE students, which was never the case. The pilot program at Gilroy High School is apparently going well, and the teachers who are teaching these classes report that the students are coming to class well prepared, eager to work, and stepping up to the challenge.
The person now in charge of the GATE program is Joe Guzicki. At the meeting on Tuesday night, he was eager to get input from parents. He is still learning that the program has gone through years of mismanagement and neglect, but he is quickly realizing that the parents of these students are demanding that the needs of all our students be met.
Unfortunately, very little was accomplished at this meeting. After two hours, we were only halfway through the agenda. For GATE identified children in grades three through six, the district will offer a pullout program in astronomy starting on Oct. 23. This will be offered to all children who are not enrolled in the GATE core classes at Rucker School.
The plan is to offer one Wednesday session at Luigi Aprea School and one Thursday session at Las Animas School. For more information call the school district office.
Parents have complained over the years that they know nothing about the GATE program. Students are tested in the spring of second grade for the GATE program. Older students may also be tested, and many parents opt to test a child in third or fourth grade. Traditionally, the only way to have your child tested has been through a referral process. Teachers or parents may request that a child be tested.
The flaw in this process is that some parents do not know the signs of giftedness. If they don’t know, they may not be inclined to have a child tested for GATE. The same is true for teachers.
If a teacher has a child in the class who is reading quietly, seems bored or gets their work done quickly, they may be too busy with students who are struggling to notice the one child who may be gifted.
Children do slip through the cracks, and as one mother said on Tuesday night, it wasn’t until eighth grade that her son was put in the GATE class. I have had parents of high school students tell me that their child had always gotten straight A’s, excelled in AP classes, and they weren’t even aware that Gilroy had a GATE program. This needs to change, and the district is now aware of the problem.
The issues on tap for the next district GATE Advisory meeting are identification and program offerings. Identification will include strategies for capturing those students who might otherwise slip through the cracks. This may include using MAP assessment, and doing a better job at identifying students who show a talent for music, athletics or leadership at a young age, rather than just those who are reading in kindergarten. When examining the program offerings, we should look at mistakes of the past.
This would include the cost effectiveness of the pullout program, the selection of courses offered, and continuation of effective courses. Many parents complained that last year’s Spanish course was beneficial for their child, and then it ended. Instead of offering Spanish II, we are offering only astronomy now.
I hope that the next GATE Advisory meeting will cover the need for GATE enrichment at the middle schools. We need to address the lack of a challenging program for tenth grade. We need to find a way to identify GATE students who are still learning English. We also need to examine the move towards expanding the program.
There is a Catch-22 here, because while we are working towards expanding the program, the waiting lists for the self-contained classes at Rucker are expanding. Does it make sense to expand a program when the demand already exceeds the number of spaces available to house those children? Doesn’t it make sense to find out who needs GATE services, and build a program that accommodates all of those students?
All parents of GATE identified children, and those parents who are interested in finding out about the GATE program should plan to attend the next GATE Advisory meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at the District Office.
Denise Baer Apuzzo has lived in Gilroy for 5 years. She is married and is a parent of three children who attend Gilroy public schools. You can reach her at: lu*****@ea*******.net. Her column is published each Thursday in The Dispatch.
