Gilroy
– Idealism has a new price – $1,500. This was the amount the
Gilroy Unified School District board of trustees agreed to pay
Teach for America for every teacher it supplies to the Gilroy
Unified School District.
Gilroy – Idealism has a new price – $1,500.
This was the amount the Gilroy Unified School District board of trustees agreed to pay Teach for America for every teacher it supplies to the Gilroy Unified School District.
At its last meeting Feb. 15, trustees unanimously approved a four-year agreement with the nonprofit. The district must also pay the teachers a salary according the pay schedule negotiated with the Gilroy Teacher’s Association.
“We need qualified teachers. Anything that we have to do to get them, I support,” Trustee Denise Apuzzo said.
In exchange for the fee, the national organization – which works to decrease disparities in achievement among ethnic and socioeconomic groups – finds recent college graduates and puts them through a five-week crash course in teaching before they come to the district.
The extra fee is not a discouragement, Apuzzo said.
“We pay stipends for other things and if we can get a teacher for that, that’s great,” Apuzzo said.
At the Feb. 15 meeting, Linda Piceno, assistant superintendent of human resources, presented data on the Teach for America members in the district. In terms of their students’ scores on the performance progress exams, Teach for America teachers ranked in the middle of the pack for new second- and fourth-grade teachers.
“They weren’t the highest or the lowest,” Piceno said.
In addition, the administration is satisfied with teacher performance, she said.
“The principals are giving them the go-ahead to come back next year.”
The district originally entered into a one-year contract with Teach for America for the 2006-2007 school year. The district hired seven teachers, who are currently divided among Eliot Elementary School, Rod Kelley Elementary School and South Valley Middle School.
In the most recent agreement, district officials agreed to hire at least 20 teachers through Teach for America each year and to inform the nonprofit of the district’s need for the next school year March 15. In the board meeting, the memorandum was discussed as though the agreement stated that there would be a maximum of 20 teachers hired.
These details are flexible, Piceno said.
“The bottom line is that we have a working relationship with each other,” she said.
Last year, the district hired only seven teachers even though the one-year agreement they had signed stipulated that the district needed to hire 10 corps members.
These issues are immaterial to the teachers themselves.
“I’ve only felt very welcomed here,” said Curtis Leighton, a fourth-grade teacher supplied by Teach for America. “Everyone I’ve met in the school, in the community has been really positive.”
Leighton, who hails from Seattle, Wash., graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English last June. Although he has been in Gilroy only six months, Leighton believes he is already making a difference.
“I’m amazed at the things my students are doing,” he said.
Teach for America corps members typically serve two years in one school district.
“Of course, I’m already thinking about how I will be doing this differently next year,” he said.
Leighton, his colleagues and any future additions are welcome, said Michelle Nelson, president of the Gilroy Teacher’s Association.
“We have trouble attracting teachers to the district,” she said. “I think (Teach for America teachers) bring a lot of energy to the job, and enthusiasm.”
