GILROY
– The controversy that last year embroiled Gilroy High School,
Gilroy Unified School District and parents who wanted their
high-achieving students to be more academically challenged is
over.
GILROY – The controversy that last year embroiled Gilroy High School, Gilroy Unified School District and parents who wanted their high-achieving students to be more academically challenged is over.
Seven honors courses will be regularly offered at GHS in the 2003-04 school year. Two of the courses, English I and Global Studies, were being offered only on a “pilot” basis to freshmen this year.
“We’re delighted to report the honors classes have been successful,” Assistant Superintendent Jacki Horejs said.
School board trustees unanimously approved Thursday night the new honors level classes along with six other courses with a new or revised curriculum. Among the revised curriculums are three agriculture courses, additions the district says indicates their commitment to a Future Farmers of America program.
Last month, the district did not rehire its current and popular ag science teachers, sending the FFA community into a frenzy. Parents, students and other supporters read the move as the district’s first step in dismantling the ag program due to state and GUSD budget woes.
The approval of the honors and agriculture courses were “another statement from the district that we are listening to the community and providing,” school board President Jim Rogers said.
The new honors courses include World History/World Geography, English II, Geometry, Introduction to Science and Biology.
GHS Assistant Principal Karen Spaulding said the Introduction to Science course would cover, among other areas of scientific inquiry, earth science. The GHS science department had been pushing for more earth science instruction since the topic is not formally studied in GUSD schools after the sixth grade, Spaulding said.
As for the agriculture program, courses in ag economics and ag biology have been revised to meet University of California and Cal State University standards. In addition, a veterinary science class will replace a less challenging agriculture science course offered now, Spaulding said.
In other GUSD business, trustees:
• Approved a contract with WestEd education consultants for $75,000. WestEd is a state-approved firm which will visit Brownell Middle School next month to make policy and curriculum changes. The state, which will pay WestEd, is mandating the visit since Brownell failed to improve its standardized test scores two years in a row.
• Endorsed a future ballot measure to reduce the two-thirds voter approval requirement on parcel tax initiatives. The new law would make a 55 percent voter approval enough to pass new parcel tax initiatives.
