The district will have the support of the equivalent of 7.5
county-sponsored employees that help identify and counsel students
at risk of failing or dropping out
– for now.
Gilroy – The district will have the support of the equivalent of 7.5 county-sponsored employees that help identify and counsel students at risk of failing or dropping out – for now.
The Gilroy Unified School District will get continued support from School Linked Services, which provides free counselors, social workers and attendance liaisons at five schools. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors spared the program – an initiative of five county departments, schools and community members – this summer as it tried to decrease a $238 million deficit.
“I was pleasantly surprised that they were able to save the program at all,” trustee Denise Apuzzo said.
Apuzzo attended May and June county meetings to persuade supervisors to continue funding the program. District administrators, trustees and principals also sent letters to the county extolling its benefits.
The program’s employees care for some of the district’s most vulnerable students, including those with troubled homes, language barriers and emotional or substance abuse problems, trustees said. The employees, typically bilingual in Spanish and English, interface with parents, prevent absences and counsel students.
School Linked Services, while still funded, will get less than previous years. Accordingly, the services they provide to the district will be reduced. While El Roble and Glen View elementary school will receive the same number of employees, the employees might be less experienced or they might be interns in the social work program at San Jose State University. Eliot Elementary School will receive one less employee through the program, though school administrators will make up for the loss by hiring someone for the same position out of school site funds.
Brownell Middle School’s social worker will work through December. This is troubling for a school that has its third principal in as many years, third vice principal in less than two years and could go into year three of program improvement – a federal designation that the school does not meet standardized testing criteria – said Apuzzo, whose child attended Brownell last year.
“I’m going to work on trying to get that program some alternate funding,” she said.
Gilroy High School will continue to receive two social workers and one part-time counselor. The district also pays for one counselor who splits time between the high school and Mount Madonna Continuation High School.
In addition to finding money to keep the same level of service this year, the district must think about future support of School Linked Services, Apuzzo said. The program’s county funding is in no way assured, she said.
“It will probably be one of those things that will be on the chopping block in the future,” she said.
