EDITOR:
Last Thursday’s
”
Our Voice
…editorial
”
drubbing of Gilroy High School’s Principal Robert Bravo and
English department Chair Peter Gray was very disturbing.
EDITOR:
Last Thursday’s “Our Voice…editorial” drubbing of Gilroy High School’s Principal Robert Bravo and English department Chair Peter Gray was very disturbing.
I was astonished and saddened by the extreme rhetoric used to describe these men. The acerbic tone of the article went beyond the frustration many of us feel concerning the English department’s reading list and curriculum. I read the article as a mean-spirited character assassination.
In no way was this an opinion piece designed to bring positive change. It gives the impression that the school district, its leaders, and its employees are fair game to be demonized and held in complete contempt in the local paper … unless they do what certain groups want done.
If the intentions of the article were to help “move the process along,” I think it may backfire. I feel it will only produce more disharmony and discord.
I have been blessed with the opportunity to teach in the school district for over 10 years. I have the honor of teaching science at the high school. In my position I am exposed to Gilroy’s best and brightest minds!
I too am frustrated with the seeming disparity between low performing students and high performing students. I bear witness to the frustrations of teaching a class with students with incredible intelligence, academic skills, and desire; mixed with students who don’t have a clue as to why they’re in school.
I don’t feel that the “best and the brightest minds” in Gilroy are being left to fend for themselves. The demographics of Gilroy have changed over the last 10 years is true. However, I don’t agree with the notion that the school district’s “middling goals” have been outpaced by the demographics academic expectations.
I have full confidence that the needs of all of Gilroy’s students are taken into consideration. However, I know everyone’s needs and desires can’t be fulfilled completely.
Lastly, I feel I must express that I have known and have worked with both Robert Bravo and Peter Gray over 10 years or so. I have never known these men to be “arrogant,” “unresponsive,” or “thumb-twiddlers.” They have put themselves in positions to affect positive change. These are men who I hold in the highest regard. They are both incredibly kind, compassionate, and intelligent.
They sacrifice their time and now it seems their public persona in order to move positive change forward. I sincerely hope all the hard work and efforts of the parents of the Academic Alliance and the school district will soon bear the sweet fruit of positive change and improvement. The parents of Gilroy’s school children should be proud of their schools and their children.
Stephen C. Jackson, Gilroy High School Science Department
Submitted Saturday, Nov. 22, to ed****@ga****.com
