GILROY
– The Gilroy High School Parent Club wants to become an official
fund-raising arm for GHS, complete with elected officers and
by-laws, but needs more parents willing to volunteer their
time.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – The Gilroy High School Parent Club wants to become an official fund-raising arm for GHS, complete with elected officers and by-laws, but needs more parents willing to volunteer their time.
GHS has struggled for years to bolster parent involvement. Last year, Parent Club members supported a focus on school and educational issues in an effort to spark parent interest. Two years ago, an $18,000 grant was spent on efforts to develop the club, in part to pay parents Diane Baty and Debbie Elston to co-chair the club.
“The consensus is, yes, we want to be an actual parent club,” Baty said.
Baty hopes to see more than the few familiar faces at its next meeting Wednesday night.
She estimates that fewer than 20 parents have attended meetings this year, which is about on par with last year’s attendance. There are 2,500 students enrolled in GHS.
“We have been in that 15-people range, but we have had a few new faces each time, and different faces as well,” Baty said. “Hopefully, that same few and even more will come.”
Parents will move toward being an “actual” club by registering as a nonprofit group, having decided during their first two meetings this year to take on a new role as a fund-raising body.
“This year, the parents that have shown up have said (they) really want it to be more proactive,” Assistant Principal Greg Camacho-Light said.
In the past, the group has focused mostly on fostering communication between parents and the school.
Fund raising will likely start small, Baty said, perhaps with a Chevy’s dinner night.
“It’s just with the budget as it is, the budget cuts affect everything, and it would be nice to have some money on hand,” Baty said.
Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill has an active parent club, but San Benito High School in Hollister does not.
Even with the new effort, communication will remain the Parent Club’s priority.
“I would say the main point (is) being a main source of communication between parents and the community at the high school,” Baty said.
To improve that communication, the Parent Club is asking a representative from each department on campus to attend a regular meeting starting next month. The representative would provide parents with an overview of what types of activities the department is involved in and could answer questions, Baty said.
Agenda items for Wednesday’s meeting are evidence of the group’s efforts to legitimize. Parents will adopt the group’s by-laws, elect officers for the year and conduct a question-and-answer session with Principal Bob Bravo.
“This will be the first by-laws that anyone can remember,” said Camacho-Light, who attends each Parent Club session.
Baty said she likely will not serve as an officer this year but hopes there will be interested parents lined up Wednesday for executive positions.
“We hope they come, from hearing that officers are being elected,” Baty said. “If people want change, or want to improve something, the best way to improve it is to become involved.”
Even for parents who are not seeking change, the Parent Club is an easy way to get involved and find out what’s going on around campus, she said.
“We have so many families with both parents working, or some single parent families. … This is a way to get in touch with at least the administration,” Baty said.
Bravo opens each meeting and often presents information relating to GHS’s Three Initiatives for 2003-04, including curriculum mapping, tardy reduction and literacy training for teachers. During last month’s session, he discussed the school’s improving Academic Performance Index score.
Stronger parent participation will only help the parent club, Baty said.
“Any time you have more people attend a meeting like this, you’re hoping to create more of a sense of community at the school, and for a school of this size, I think it’s important.”
To attract a solid parent base this year, the club announces upcoming meetings in GHS’s bi-monthly newsletter. Regular meetings are scheduled for the second Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. in the GHS library.
E-mail updates are sent to parents who have registered through the GHS web site, www.gilroyhighschool.com. Starting today, Camacho-Light will use the district’s voice-mail system to send a recorded message, in either English or Spanish, to all GHS parents.
“What we’re trying from a school standpoint to do is to get as many people involved as is possible, knowing that in every high school, it’s a difficult thing,” Camacho-Light said. “I think it’s because parents are involved in other areas and to go to yet another meeting may be very difficult.”
Many parents of senior students participate in the Grad Night committee or athletic boosters, he said.
Parent Margie Hemeon said the Grad Night committee meetings usually attract between 10 and 12 parents each month, although she expects that number to increase as graduation nears.
Each GHS athletic team runs its own fund raisers. Athletic Director Jack Daley said that about 10 parents regularly participate in football activities, with turnout sometimes as high as 40 or 50, about one-third of the total number of parents. He said about 15 or 20 attend monthly meetings.
The Parent Club next meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the GHS library.
