As the current school year approaches its halfway mark, we can
begin to look ahead to a very interesting 2003-04 Gilroy Unified
School District education year.
As the current school year approaches its halfway mark, we can begin to look ahead to a very interesting 2003-04 Gilroy Unified School District education year.
Interesting and important, because it will feature the opening of a new middle school, Ascension Solorsano, and the final phases of the transition to a consistently implemented middle school curriculum. It promises to be an especially memorable school year for 6th graders in the district, and for 6th grade teachers, as they are the pioneers (we won’t say guineau pigs) who will lead the middle school transition.
It won’t be a painless transition, especially in terms of attendance. To achieve socio-economic and logistical balance, the district will need to draw some squiggly lines on the Gilroy street map. These lines will not fit neatly over current elementary school attendance areas. These lines will inevitably divide neighborhoods and “separate” some elementary school friends. It will not, for instance, be possible to move every 6th grader in Luigi Aprea attendance areas to Ascension Solorsano. The fact is there is no way to distribute all Gilroy middle school students into three middle schools without impinging upon someone.
And yet changes, and sacrifices, must be made if we are to achieve the larger education goal. Parents and parents’ groups who are lobbying for their middle school preference at the expense of the greater good should should heed the words of Florence Trimble of Gilroy. In a recent letter to the editor, she penned some advice for those distraught over the prospect of uncertainty in the middle school transition:
“It is not necessarily bad for children facing adolescence to be compelled to make new friends. Sometimes it is a great blessing! … New friends bring the potential of fresh interests, new viewpoints, and a better understanding of human character.”
“Public education,” continued Trimble, “by its very nature provides wide contacts with children of other backgrounds and cultures, teaching respect for differences. It is a function that has served our democracy well.”
These are wise words for parents and groups of parents to remember as we enter an important transition period in the growth of Gilroy schools. Approach the change with excitement rather than trepidation. Be supportive, talk up the opportunity to make new friends.
Remind children that most students will be adapting to new places and new faces, not just them.
The reality is that keeping former elementary classmates together is not a significant factor in establishing a consistently-supported middle school policy and raising performance across at all three middle schools.
Another reality is that the middle school transition will not be entirely smooth and it will take more than one school year to get it right.
In the interim, there may remain some glaring differences in the middle school programs. Some planned services and programs may not be immediately available at the new middle school, Solorsano. If it continues to rain all winter, we could even see a delay in the opening of Solorsano, and contingency attendance plans. It is a time of uncertainty, yes, but an uncertainty that is necessary to make a positive and lasting change for the betterment of all students.
We hope the school district’s leadership will make the transition plan clear, clearly communicate changes to the plan, and be responsive to critical input. But it is partially the responsibility of Gilroy parents to make the middle school transition a cooperative effort.
