As summer ends and the first day of school rapidly approaches, Superintendent Debbie Flores said during the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Education meeting Thursday that GUSD has to go “from zero to 60 in a week”.
“August is a very busy but productive month,” Flores said, noting that this year there will be 40 new certificated teaching staff who will be going through extensive training on Monday.
Flores said that out of the 11,500 students enrolled in GUSD, there has been an overwhelming 600 intra-district transfer requests submitted this summer. The district will not be accepting any more requests at this time, nor will it approve all that have been submitted, according to Flores.
Most of the intra-district transfer requests were at the elementary level, followed by the middle school level, according to Flores. She said there were about 35 transfer requests from Gilroy High School students wanting to attend Christopher High School; roughly five of which were approved due to special circumstances, Flores said. GUSD received about 25 to 30 requests from students wanting to transfer from CHS to GHS, all of which were approved.
While CHS is at capacity with 1,800 students and “many classes over-enrolled,” Flores pointed out there is still capacity at the GHS campus, which at one time had more than 2,500 students enrolled. GHS expecting roughly 1,400 students this year.
Using GUSD facilities? Outside sports groups must pay to play
After discovering local community sports groups and various clubs have been using district facilities without paying fees or having insurance, GUSD implemented a new policy requiring facilities users to pay in advance.
“The things we’ve discovered are astounding. Groups have been illegally using district sports fields and weight rooms for months for no fee,” Flores said.
Due to the district’s new requirement of establishing a partnership and financial agreement with a group prior to usage, the local Gilroy Hawks’ request to use South Valley Middle School’s wrestling room and weight room was not approved during the meeting.
“I looked further into the situation and found out the Gilroy Hawks are not a legal entity,” said GUSD Board Trustee Mark Good, who was the first to move for action to remove the request from the consent items. Good is an attorney and partner of Terra Law firm in San Jose.
Flores said the money local groups and clubs rightfully owe the district needs to be put towards GUSD’s general fund. As a result, the money could help pay for desperately-needed new bleachers at GHS.
“The Gilroy High bleachers have been used to death and we don’t have the funds to fix them,” Flores pointed out.
Board of Ed. unsettled over potential cost of new GHS bleachers
The Division of State Architects has deemed the home side bleachers at GHS unsafe, and though a long-term solution has not been decided upon yet, temporary bleachers will be in place for the start of football season. The district is working closely with PMSM Architects and Southern Bleachers in exploring various options to address the problem.
The main structural issues lie in the stairs and the structural support of the stairways. The bigger issue, however, is that not all of the GHS bleachers, in addition to the press box, are handicap accessible. This is against current accessibility codes, according to Anthony Palazzo, principal architect and director for K-12 Education Design at the PMSM Architect firm.
Palazzo presented four options as potential solutions to the bleacher situation. While Palazzo did not provide the exact dollar amount, these options will vary by price and the amount of repairs needed to fulfill the task. The last option is to replace the entire bleacher system and is the most expensive.
“The next step is to establish a budget and determine which option should be selected,” said Palazzo.
The Board appeared unsettled over what the bleacher repairs or possible replacement could cost, particularly trustee Tom Bundros who said that recently implemented accessibility codes for disabled individuals are not reasonable to him. Bundros requested the accessibility code be explained in more depth at the next Sept. 5 meeting.
District’s deferred maintenance needs exceed $13M
Due to the state’s economic crises that greatly impacted school districts across California, GUSD has exercised a flexibility allowed under state law to not contribute any money from its general fund to its deferred maintenance fund.
The new Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Alvaro Meza, said that deferred maintenance needs across the district now exceed $13 million – a figure that continues to “grow each year improvements go unaddressed,” he noted.
Meza listed urgent safety needs totaling approximately $140,000 that must be completed before Aug. 22 for the safety of the children throughout their school year.
One example are fire alarm panels, which “must be replaced at a number of schools because the systems have failed,” Meza said.
He also said roofs must be repaired before the winter to prevent further damage. Playground infills – cushions that lower the impact of a fall – will be completed by Monday.
“We need to spend the $140,000 it’s going to take to get these things fixed,” Flores said.
The next regular school board meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 5 at district offices, 7810 Arroyo Circle.
