GILROY
– The last day of the regular school year concluded without
incident thanks to a staggered release and diligence on the part of
supervisors and students, Gilroy police say.
GILROY – The last day of the regular school year concluded without incident thanks to a staggered release and diligence on the part of supervisors and students, Gilroy police say.
Students kept their excitement contained to the productive and legal kind Friday afternoon, the last day of school for 9,000 Gilroy Unified School District students.
“It was uneventful, and that’s how we wanted it to be,” said Officer Mike Terasaki, school resource officer with the Gilroy Police Department.
Terasaki said extra officers were on duty throughout the afternoon to make sure school dismissals were safe and orderly.
“We had external staff members from both the school sites and the district office, as well,” he said. “The schools all had different release times and that was a good idea on the part of the school district and us.”
The elementary schools, Community Day School and Mt. Madonna Continuation High School were dismissed first, followed by two middle schools and, finally, the high school. GUSD has staggered end-of-the-year dismissals for several years, Terasaki said, which he attributed to restricting the number of vandalism or traffic incidents.
“We sent out letters to local merchants to alert them that we don’t want them to sell items to the kids that would cause problems out on the street,” such as eggs or shaving cream, he said. The result: “Not even a fight call.
“As you look on the street, you would think you would see little pieces of eggs or shaving cream, and there was none of that.”
The school district and police department sent a joint letter to parents earlier this month, alerting them to some of the dangers students may encounter on the last day of school. For example, after classes are dismissed students sometimes run into the street, creating a dangerous situation for both students and drivers. Parents also were given tips for improving student safety on the last day of school.
Lori Stuenkel covers education for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 847-7158 or lstuenkel
@gilroydispatch.com.
