GILROY
– The school district got an earlier start on its search for new
teachers this year, which officials say will help them get the best
candidates, although middle and high school teachers are still
difficult to come by.
GILROY – The school district got an earlier start on its search for new teachers this year, which officials say will help them get the best candidates, although middle and high school teachers are still difficult to come by.
Interviews for teaching jobs have already begun and Gilroy Unified School District Recruiter Gene Sakahara is visiting a steady stream of recruitment fairs to fill the district’s openings. The district began pursuing teacher candidates in March, two months earlier than last year.
“When you start late, many of the best candidates are already snatched up by other districts,” said Linda Piceno, GUSD’s assistant superintendent of human resources.
Piceno and Sakahara reviewed the district’s process to recruit, hire and retain highly qualified staff during the school board meeting Thursday night.
The district is ready to make an offer to about five applicants, Piceno said, who have progressed through the first seven steps in an eight-step hiring process. Each year, GUSD generally hires between 50 and 70 new teachers.
This year, the number of teacher hires will be comparable, given the number of teachers who are retiring, resigning, taking a leave or who were not re-hired.
GUSD held its recruitment fair March 12, a week before the Santa Clara County Office of Education, to give itself an edge, Sakahara said. The fair was open only to secondary level teachers, or those in grades six through 12, because they continue to be the most in-demand.
“What we are dealing with this year – and last year – is that there is a very limited number of single subject credentialed teachers in six to 12,” Sakahara said. “Knowing that, we have to be aggressive and compete with other districts as well, those are our areas of need.”
Secondary level teachers with credentials in the subjects of math, science and special education are needed the most. High school English teachers are also a priority for next year. The district fired at least four English teachers this year in the midst of a controversy over department policies.
Piceno said it would be difficult to pinpoint reasons for the shortage of secondary level teachers.
“We’re generally about four or five years behind what’s happening,” she said, adding that the dot-com boom may have attracted people who would otherwise have pursued a math- or science-related teaching career. Also, elementary level teachers were highly in demand about six years ago, when schools began reducing class sizes.
“We just have to wait for the pendulum to swing the other way,” Piceno said.
The district is progressing in its goal to hire only fully credentialed, qualified teachers, Piceno said. According to district data, about 95 percent of GUSD teachers are fully credentialed. Those without a full credential have at least a college degree or up to a semester of postgraduate work and participate in an internship program.
There are 25 non-credentialed teachers in GUSD, a decrease from 64 last year.
Gilroy High School, with more than 100 teachers, has the most employees of any school in the district. There were 21 non-credentialed teachers at GHS last year and seven remain. Eliot, Rod Kelley and Rucker Elementary Schools all have a fully credentialed staff.
Piceno highlighted the six California Standards for the Teaching Profession that GUSD focuses on: Instructional strategies, classroom management skills, knowledge of curriculum and technology, high expectations for students, assessment, and leadership, collaboration and professional growth.
But, according to outside research, the number one indicator of what makes a good teacher, she said, is a passion for teaching. To measure a teacher’s “passion,” GUSD has used a Gallup survey.
“It’s been done on an inconsistent basis over the last few years and we’ve re-committed to that,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said.
For GHS parent Mark Zappa, who attended the board meeting, something was missing. He asked officials to provide a tangible definition for what makes a teacher “a good fit”, an issue that has been fodder for The Dispatch’s Opinion pages in recent weeks.
“That’s a very general term and people want to know what it means,” said Zappa, a member of the grass-roots Alliance for Academic Excellence, which has criticized the district’s hiring and firing policies in light of recent events.
Former GHS English teacher Kristen Porter called the policies into question last month after she was not re-hired by the district for what she said were political reasons. She said she was told simply,” You’re not a good fit.”
Zappa also referenced former GHS English teacher Kim Lemos, who was laid off last year, applied for the position again this year, but was not hired in favor of Porter.
“(Lemos) seems to be a perfect fit to what I’ve seen spelled out here,” Zappa said, referring to the district’s hiring criteria. “I want to know who’s responsible for letting these teachers go, who are highly regarded and successful in the classroom.”
At the opening of the meeting, Trustee Bob Kraemer mentioned recent articles in The Dispatch that he said give GUSD “bad publicity.” The attention seems to have little effect on the district’s applicant pool, Piceno said.
