Gilroy
– John Gurich thinks Gilroy needs to keep a classroom teacher on
the board.
A physical education teacher and coach in San Jose for 29 years,
Gurich says he knows first-hand that teachers are over-worked and
under-paid.
Gilroy – John Gurich thinks Gilroy needs to keep a classroom teacher on the board.
A physical education teacher and coach in San Jose for 29 years, Gurich says he knows first-hand that teachers are over-worked and under-paid. Even though Gilroy Unified School District may not have enough money to pay teachers what they’re worth, Gurich wants to give teachers more money for basic and supplemental classroom supplies.
“I think they should be given something beyond: They have nothing beyond their department budgets,” Gurich said.
He wants to see the board host a fund-raiser and solicit corporate donations to start a fund specifically for supplies.
“It’s kind of nice to have that money to go back on when you really need some things,” Gurich said. “Whether it’s extra materials that you can’t get otherwise – but that money goes directly to the kids.”
An 18-year Gilroy resident, Gurich, 51, also says his expertise as a parent of two children who graduated from GUSD schools will add to his knowledge gained in a four-year term at the dais.
“I think there’s some unfinished business to do,” Gurich said. “It takes about two years or so to get your feet wet in how to deal with issues and different things that come up to the board.”
As an educator and parent, Gurich is a supporter of improving GUSD students’ physical education program and physical fitness scores, particularly at the elementary level, where students receive a fraction of the required PE minutes and 5 percent of fifth-graders are considered fit.
“This has been my sore thumb for a long time,” Gurich said. “We don’t meet the required minutes … and we really need to get on this. The whole society’s in trouble with kids and obesity, and whatnot, and we talk about how activity and being better in the classroom goes hand-in-hand, but we need to set an example for that.”
Elementary teachers need to be given more minutes for PE, not just told to find the time, Gurich said. They also need to be given a solid PE curriculum and training to feel comfortable teaching PE.
“I repeatedly hear these things come up, and I think that’s in my area: Being an educator myself, I think I can lend some expertise in those areas,” Gurich said.
As far as standardized testing in the core academic areas of English, reading, and math, Gurich said he will advocate for fewer assessments and more lesson time. Too much testing could be a reason GUSD scores aren’t improving, he said.
Gurich doesn’t find this year’s scores alarming, even for high-achieving students, who had some of the biggest declines. A number of factors could come into play to represent this year’s drop, he said.
“I think that our kids in Gilroy are a lot better off than the test scores say they are, let’s put it that way,” Gurich said. “I really do.”
It’s not that students don’t know the material, he says, but they need motivation – which often comes from a cheerleading teacher – to want to do well. He said he was “shocked” when the high school math scores declined for the third year in a row.
“I don’t think it’s, they don’t know the material,” Gurich said. “It’s that, when they turn that age, other things become (more) important than testing.”
Socializing becomes a much higher priority, he said.
He wants to see the district get back into the nitty-gritty of education, and has his doubts whether the Accountability Task Force will effect change. He has requested to be involved in the selection committee for task force members.
“I think it’s another task force or think tank, or something that … may give us some answers, but not the right answers,” Gurich said. “Let’s get down to teaching, and ask the teachers what’s going on – they’re there every day with these kids.”
Part of getting down to the essentials should include more of a focus on low-performing students, Gurich said, and an emphasis on vocational education at the high school. Gilroy High School could be losing students overwhelmed at some of the more academic requirements, he says, and should be given general education followed by skills-oriented courses.
“They’re all not going to go to college, they’re not all oriented to it,” he said. “But they should be given an avenue in high school to learn a skill, a trade, whatever.”
He supports the state’s high school exit exam, but thinks more than 70 percent of GHS students should be passing. After teaching a six-week summer math course, 100 percent of his students passed that section of the test, he said.
“Why can’t we just teach to the test?” Gurich said. “We’re not trying to fool anybody – we want these kids to pass the test – learn the material. This is the material on the test, let’s teach to the test.”
