After months of debate, the school board drew the line that will
divide Gilroy’s high schoolers come next fall.
After months of debate, the school board drew the line that will divide Gilroy’s high schoolers come next fall.
The new map looks very similar to the original proposal that was presented to the board in May with a small, but controversial, exception.
The original recommendation called for a line that divided the district along Leavesley Road and then down the center of Mantelli Drive into the western foothills, with students residing north of the line attending Christopher High School and students south attending Gilroy High School. The revised map shows a slight modification that includes the neighborhood just south of Mantelli Drive and west of Santa Teresa Boulevard in the CHS zone.
Four board members approved the vote with Trustees Javier Aguirre and Francisco Dominguez dissenting. Trustee Jaime Rosso was absent.
The new plan will fold an additional 57 students into the CHS zone, a capacity that Superintendent Deborah Flores felt could be accommodated by the school’s initial facilities.
The decision was postponed for several months while the boundary committee reconvened, at the school board’s behest, to produce three alternatives to their original recommendation with a list of pros and cons for each. The revised boundary will slightly widen the gap in socioeconomic status, with more socioeconomically disadvantaged students attending GHS, but will prevent students living in a neighborhood quite close to CHS from making the commute to GHS.
While Dominguez and Aguirre agreed with the committee’s original proposal – “I supported it then and I support it tonight,” Dominguez said – the majority ruled and the line was changed.
“Ultimately, we have to compromise,” Trustee Denise Apuzzo said.
“It just makes sense to me,” Board President Rhoda Bress agreed. “It’s a good compromise.”
