District staff will be good at introductions by the end of this
summer after they welcome seven new colleagues
– perhaps the most fresh faces in decades.
Gilroy – District staff will be good at introductions by the end of this summer after they welcome seven new colleagues – perhaps the most fresh faces in decades.
A superintendent, two of three assistant superintendents and four other district staff members have left or announced plans to leave since November. In addition, three of the eight elementary school principals will be new next year.
“It’s probably the biggest change that I’ve seen in 30 years,” said trustee Pat Midtgaard, who had been a teacher and a principal in the district before joining the board. “But I’m not alarmed by it. I actually think change is very healthy.”
While the vacancies have increased work for about 20 remaining members and slowed operations, the vacancies will allow new Gilroy Unified School District superintendent Deborah Flores to construct a cohesive team, trustees said.
Flores did not return a call requesting comment.
“It’s a good opportunity that Dr. Flores has – she’s going to be able to create the kind of culture she wants here,” trustee Francisco Dominguez said.
This culture would likely be modeled after her commitment and hands-on involvement in the schools, he said. Examples of this include her long workdays, which start at 5am and extend to 6pm, and her policy to spend two days a week at the schools.
Flores, who has worked more than seven years as a superintendent and is currently the head of the Lucia Mar Unified School District on the Central Coast, will start in Gilroy July 1.
While she agrees that the vacancies are an opportunity to mold a staff that would work well together, she acknowledges that she worried when she first found out about the open positions.
“When I first heard it I wondered if there was some sort of glaring reason,” she said in a previous interview. “It appears to be more coincidence than a pattern.”
Of the seven departures at the district level, four are retirements and three are transfers to jobs in county offices or another district. As for the principals, one moved to a job in the district office while two others took principal positions in the Oak Grove School District in San Jose.
Though Flores has not officially started work, she has spent two days conducting interviews for the two unfilled principals positions. Her choices will go before the board for approval at a June 7 board meeting. In addition, she will be interviewing candidates for two assistant superintendent positions early next month.
While this means Flores will hire four administrators and staff members before she starts work, trustees are not worried.
“The thing about hiring somebody with superintendent experience is they’ve done this before,” trustee Denise Apuzzo said.
Any fears were further allayed by Flores’ request for two trustees to participate in the interviews – an uncommon invitation by superintendents.
“She was under no obligation to ask anybody to sit in on these meetings,” Apuzzo said. “That just shows her character.”
Even without the invitation, the board hired Flores with the knowledge that she would be choosing the new staff, she said. One of the aspects that made her the board’s top pick was shared priorities.
“What she’s looking for and what we’re looking for is high-quality people,” Apuzzo said.
