The top choice for superintendent of Gilroy schools leaves
behind a bevy of parents, teachers, administrators and board
members who give her high marks.
Arroyo Grande – The top choice for superintendent of Gilroy schools leaves behind a bevy of parents, teachers, administrators and board members who give her high marks. But Deborah Flores also leaves behind a unexplained misunderstanding between her and the Lucia Mar board of trustees that was the impetus for her to seek a position in another district.
Credited with bringing the Lucia Mar Unified School District – where she is currently the superintendent – out of a budget crisis, raising student achievement across the board and hammering out a teacher raise despite tensions on both sides, Flores is lauded by her peers and the district’s trustees.
This comes despite a February controversy in which she told two principals that the board wanted them to be either reassigned or step down. The board – which draws from the five cities clustered around and including Arroyo Grande – later said the incident had been the result of miscommunication.
“It’s been a big misunderstanding,” board member Dawn Hinchman said.
During a closed session meeting concerning the four principals, the board told Flores to speak with the principals about personnel decisions, she said. For existing employees, closed-session meetings typically pertain to performance evaluations.
“They gave me some direction,” Flores said. “I began to act on that direction and that direction was very upsetting to many people, including myself.”
Parents, teachers and administrators got word that the direction the board gave Flores was to order the principals – two of whom work at distinguished schools – reassigned or to step down. In response to the public outcry, the board scheduled a special meeting to reconsider its direction regarding the four principals. During this meeting, which attracted about 200 residents and district employees, more than 20 people addressed the board, attendees reported.
Following the public appeals, the board unanimously approved a resolution in closed session that explained no principals would be fired and that the incident had been the result of a misunderstanding, said board member Georgie O’Connor.
The misunderstanding remains. Board members disagree as to whether the board gave any direction to Flores. Residents, teachers and administrators interviewed by the Dispatch did not know why the principals were targeted for reassignment or dismissal. Board members are restricted by law from speaking publicly about personnel issues.
Flores said she gets recruited often. This controversy prompted her to respond and eventually led to her locating Gilroy’s open position.
When the Gilroy Unified School District board of trustees visits Flores and the Lucia Mar board in Arroyo Grande Monday, it will want answers to any outstanding questions, said trustee Pat Midtgaard.
“Some people would argue the site visit is every bit as important as the interviews,” she said. “This is our chance to get clarification.”
Weathering the Storm
Despite lingering questions regarding the incident, Flores is liked and respected by teachers, board members and even the targeted principals.
“She’s always supported me,” said Gary Moore, principal of Paulding Middle School an administrator whose job was on the line. “She’s been honestly concerned about schools and our progress.”
Praise about Flores extends up to the board level, where members expound upon her financial aplomb. She helped the district navigate through dire financial straits, balance its budget and make more than a $1 million in cuts without angering staff or eliminating programs that directly affect students.
“I would hire her again as superintendent,” said O’Connor, 84, who has served on the board for 46 years and overseen seven superintendents, including Flores. “She has a wealth of information and she cares about kids.”
Thanks to spending two days a week at school sites, Flores also has made allies at the school level. This comes despite representing the district when it was in heated negotiations regarding salaries for teachers, who had not been given a raise in several years.
“We did have a pretty contentious year, but I wouldn’t necessarily put it with (Flores),” said Kevin Statom, president of the teacher’s union. “She’s been very supportive of teachers.”
Her loss will be felt by people in the five cites, not only by those associated with the schools, said Dee Santos, board president and former mayor of Grover Beach.
“She cared not only for the school district, but for the community itself.”
Similarities and differences
Perched along U.S. 101, the five cities that are served by the Lucia Mar district might reflect what Gilroy would be like if it were on the coast.
The two districts that educate the residents in these areas are similar in their statistics and challenges, past and present. Both educate about 10,000 students, Gilroy has 12 schools while Lucia Mar has 18 and both employ about 1,200 teachers and staff. In addition, Lucia Mar recently completed a new high school and elementary school and is in the process of reconstructing an existing high school. Gilroy has plans to break ground on a new high school this fall and open it in 2009. Flores helped the draw up new district boundaries when Lucia Mar finished its two new schools, a project Gilroy will undertake in the next year.
The two districts also are committed to raising student achievement. During her first two years with Lucia Mar, Flores oversaw significant gains on the district’s Academic Performance Index – a state measure of academic progress. While seven schools posted negative student growth, four of the schools still earned scores above 800 – the state’s testing target. While Lucia Mar has six schools that have met this target, Gilroy has only one – Luigi Aprea Elementary School.
The disparity in test results between the two districts in part represents a difference in demographics. Lucia Mar is about 57 percent white and about 33 percent Hispanic. Gilroy is about 21 percent white and about 68 percent Hispanic. Traditionally, Hispanic populations, which generally include a high number of students who are learning English as a second language and who come from lower socioeconomic strata, score lower on tests.
However, Flores has worked with a similar population in Santa Barbara, where in her last year as superintendent there, 69 percent of the elementary students and 44 percent of the secondary students were Hispanic. In her four-and-a-half years as superintendent of those districts, she oversaw a rise in the percentage of third-graders reading at grade level from 33 to 67.
The similarities among the challenges Gilroy faces and the challenges Flores has faced with other school districts are part of what drew her to the district. That her past experience could be applicable for guiding Gilroy’s future was also taken into consideration by the board, Midtgaard said.
“You look at where the district is, and you try to match that up as much as you can,” she said. “You’re trying to find someone whose ready to take the next steps.”
