With new district boundary lines to be drawn for the high school
and ongoing negotiations with developers over contributions to the
school district, new superintendent Deborah Flores will have a full
plate when she takes office in July.
Gilroy – With new district boundary lines to be drawn for the high school and ongoing negotiations with developers over contributions to the school district, new superintendent Deborah Flores will have a full plate when she takes office in July. However, before she makes any big decisions, she wants to speak with parents, teachers, administrators and trustees.
Flores – currently superintendent of the Lucia Mar Unified School District in San Luis Obispo County – plans to spend her first three months in office learning about the Gilroy Unified School District. While she read a stack of research more than 6 inches thick about the district – including state test scores and past newspaper articles – before she applied for the position, Flores will use individual meetings with key players in the schools to flesh out the data.
“It gives me a real flavor for the district just talking one-on-one with people,” she said.
Parents are pleased with Flores’ emphasis on stakeholder input, said Chrissy Hepert, a former member of the Superintendent Parent Advisory Committee and mother of South Valley Middle School and Rod Kelly Elementary School students.
“I really want her to show us that she is available,” Hepert said.
Hepert met Flores – the mother of an 8-year-old son and a 22-year-old daughter – at a Rod Kelley Elementary School fund-raiser and felt this would be the case.
“I felt as if she were listening,” she said. “Maybe it’s … because she’s a mother.”
Flores has plans to meet individually with all the trustees. Her interest in their opinions and the roots of education in the district have replaced fears that a large number of vacancies at the district level would lead to drastic change and negatively impact student achievement.
“Initially there was a lot of apprehension, but now it’s turning to excitement,” trustee Jaime Rosso said. “Now there’s the sense that we’re going to have good leadership. I am really excited.”
While Flores is scheduled to serve in Lucia Mar through mid-July, she will use accrued vacation days to take off early. She plans to spend June 20 and 21 interviewing candidates for two assistant superintendent positions and then start regular, daily duties July 5.
Flores would like to spend her first two days with outgoing interim superintendent Darrel Taylor, who has steered the district since early March. However, Taylor could not be reached to confirm he would be staying until then.
She would then like to meet with each of the trustees in the first two weeks. These conferences would build on the more than 10 hours she has spent with them during interviews for the job.
“I have a real good sense of what their perceptions are and what they want to do,” she said.
However, the individual meetings would provide further perspectives from trustees, who have personal histories that include being a teacher and principal, a businessman, a trustee at another district and a stay-at-home parent. As they have differing ideas of how the district has changed and where the district is headed, Flores’ understanding of these viewpoints will better equip her to make sound decisions, she said.
“There’s a lot of changes occurring in the district,” she said. “I need to understand not only why the changes are occurring but also the history. I think knowing the history is very important and knowing what people’s perceptions are based on is critical.”
In her first 30 days, Flores will also meet district staff members, parents and principals when she visits each of the schools. Before the end of her third month, she hopes to have met with city officials and set up regular meetings with local service organizations.
Trustees hope that by fall 2007, Flores will also be on the way to drawing new district boundaries for the high school and have continued discussions with area developers, who are considering a voluntary increase in the amount they contribute for each new house they build. Flores has experience setting up district boundaries from her time in Lucia Mar and acknowledges that working with the development community is integral, but did not have a specific plan mapped out, she said.
In addition to these issues, Flores should be anticipating the demographic changes that result from changing district lines and a growing population, said trustee Pat Midtgaard. However, Midtgaard is confident Flores can handle it because of her more than a decade of experience in designing and implementing curricula.
While not having officially started, Flores has already started her duties. She has used vacation days to visit more than seven Gilroy schools and interview and hire principals for Luigi Aprea and Eliot elementary schools. The names of the new hires will be released at a June 7 board meeting. Flores will also return to the district at least twice in June to hire two assistant superintendents, a categorical administrator and a director of student services.
While trustees and parents agree that this is a strong start, they hope Flores’ early commitment will not wane.
“I’m hoping that the new superintendent will keep those lines of communication open,” Hepert said.
