Dozens of special needs students displaced more than two years
ago after an arsonist torched their school may return as early as
February to a new, $4.2 million facility.
Dozens of special needs students displaced more than two years ago after an arsonist torched their school may return as early as February to a new, $4.2 million facility.
Chain-link fencing covered with sturdy green canvas surrounds an empty lot on the campus of Gateway School at 7151 Hanna St., a county-run facility for students with severe mental and physical handicaps. In 2008, two arson fires were started at the building, the second razed what remained after the first. The sprinkler system couldn’t match for the raging fire, school staff said.
In May 2009, police arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected of setting the first fire with matches. Police booked the boy, a special education student and minor who attended Gilroy High School, on one felony count of arson and released him to a guardian, police said. The boy has not been linked to the second Gateway fire.
The arsons scattered four classrooms of students across South County, said Gateway Principal Laurene Beto, who added that she looks forward to having all her students under one roof again.
In the interim, Gateway students and teachers have made themselves at home at Brownell Middle School, Glen View Elementary School, San Martin/Gwinn School, South County Community School and several others.
Despite the hardship of moving students that don’t adjust easily to change miles away from their home school, the experience has been a positive one, Beto said.
“We’re making lemonade out of lemons,” she said. “Our teachers worked hard to provide safe, clean classrooms for our students.”
Though the fires burned not only a school but what Beto also considered a community center, the silver lining has been that the aging building will be replaced with a modern structure with larger classrooms and better lighting. When her school was burned, then burned again, the upbeat principal focused on moving forward, instead of dwelling on the past, she said. In fact, moving the classrooms of special needs students to campuses that don’t typically cater to that demographic has helped build acceptance throughout South County, Beto said.
At South County Community School, which educates troubled youth, Gateway students bonded with that school’s students, Beto said, remembering a particularly touching experience on the last day of school when the South County students sang to one of her students for his birthday.
County officials broke ground on the new classroom wing in April and Beto said she hopes to have her students back into their classrooms by the spring of 2011. The new building consists of four classrooms and a therapy room for Gateway’s severely handicapped students with medical fragility. The school has served county students since the early 1970s and is still a thriving program, Beto said. The cost of the new building is mostly being covered by insurance, but Gateway’s families and staff are still working to raise money for extra projects, like stocking the new library with books.
Buy a book, help the school
What: Barnes & Noble Bookfair to benefit Gateway School What: July 12 – 18
How: Participants may purchase books at the Gilroy location, 6825 Camino Arroyo, during store hours or online using voucher number 10161198.
When checking out, notify the cashier that the purchase is being made on behalf of Gateway
