Teachers and parents say Gilroy Unified School District
officials failed to ask for feedback
Gilroy – Lack of communication.
That was the reverberating theme at Thursday’s board meeting as angry teachers and parents one-by-one stepped up to the podium to express their outrage over a recent decision to extend the middle school day.
“My major issue is they’re passing something that needs to be negotiated,” said Annette Ghezzi.
And the South Valley Middle School teacher doubts the altered schedule will improve math achievement as the district intends.
“How can being tired and hungry help them improve?,” she said. “They’re tired now.”
Some teachers questioned the effectiveness of extending the school day as a remedy to low math scores but the majority complained that the change needs to be negotiated with teachers and the lines of communication were fuzzy.
A significant group of educators showed up to a previous meeting on May 4 meeting to voice their opinion on the middle school time change and request that the board halt the decision. But the Gilroy Unified School District board went ahead and unanimously approved the change, which tacks on an extra period to the school day and converts math from a 45-minute to 90-minute class.
The move is one result of the district’s math improvement blueprint, a drawn-out plan to boost its low math scores.
For about two years, the district has been searching for a remedy, considering less than half of elementary, 30 percent of middle and 11 percent of high school students are proficient in math. That’s one of the reasons Superintendent Edwin Diaz was surprised by the teacher’s reactions.
The whole discussion began because teachers specifically requested more time in math, he said. The first powwow regarding middle school instructional time was staged in September at a Middle School Program Alignment Committee meeting.
Additional meetings were held from October through May, according to a chronology of the process provided by the superintendent.
“Yes, the process wasn’t one that was broad-based, but I do think the voice of teachers was considered,” Diaz said.
But many teachers and parents don’t agree with the superintendent. They don’t necessarily disagree with the change – and some do want the extra time – but wish the board would have invited them into the discussion.
Mark Cleveland, whose children attend South Valley Middle and Gilroy High schools, said “quite honestly, I’m a bit miffed by all of this.”
The Gilroyan said he’s disappointed that no notices were published in the Dispatch and there was no public discussion held before the decision was made. The role of the board is to involve the community, which includes parents and teachers, he said.
“I pretty much insist that you have some sort of public forum,” Cleveland said.
Gilroy Teachers Association President Michelle Nelson also is unhappy with the move. Not only did the district fail to involve the community and teachers in the debate but the board made a decision that impacts salaries and work hours, she said.
Nelson wants the board to reverse the motion and join together to make a decision.
But that scenario appears to be quite unlikely. None of the trustees said they’d changed their minds and the Assistant Superintendent Linda Piceno said the board does have a right to adjust student instructional time without negotiating with the teacher’s union.
If the change impacts a teacher’s schedule that item will be negotiated with the union.
“I have absolutely no indication from any board member that they want to change their mind,” Diaz said. “We’re moving forward. I anticipate we will have a new schedule by the fall.”
Since additional time will be added to the day the district will need to hire nine more teachers, at a cost of about $580,000.
