Gilroy
– They are the new faces in Gilroy Unified School District
education – teachers.
Gilroy – They are the new faces in Gilroy Unified School District education – teachers.
About 50 of the district’s new hires attended orientation Tuesday, before heading over to their new classrooms to prepare for the start of school.
As of Tuesday, there are 53 new teachers in the district – however, hiring is not complete. There remain a handful of classroom and special education positions unfilled just days before the start of the 2005-06 school year.
According to Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Linda Piceno, 47 of the 53 are fully credentialed teachers. The other six are evenly split between interns who are enrolled in teacher credential programs and individuals with emergency permits. There were fewer hires with emergency credentials than in years past, however, that may change as positions are filled, district officials cautioned.
“I think this is the most diverse group in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity that we have had,” Piceno said.
In terms of experience, Piceno estimated that less than one third were first time teachers.
Some are new to the area such as Tina Fishel, who last taught in the Central Valley town of Sanger, and moved to the South Valley after her husband got a job in Bay Area.
For the past 10 years, Fishel has taught migrant education and early education such as preschool, as well as first and sixth grade. This year she will be teaching eighth grade core language arts at Ascension Solorsano Middle School.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” she said. “We’ve been getting our classrooms ready.”
While there is still setting up to complete, Fishel can’t wait to for Monday.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to – I want to meet my kids!” she said.
According to Piceno, there are about 500 full and part-time teachers in GUSD. For the past three years there has been a turnover rate of about 60 teachers. This year is no different.
As of Friday, the human resources department had interviewed close to 300 individuals for the 53 teaching positions. Almost half were for high school openings, 76 were for middle school positions and 63 were for elementary school level.
Although six classrooms are still without teachers, interviews were conducted yesterday, and if the openings are not filled by the start of school, district officials will be forced to place substitutes in those classrooms, Piceno said.
Traditionally, the most difficult hires to fill are in the area of math and special education.
“They can pretty much go where ever they choose,” Piceno explained. “The pool is very very shallow for special education and math.”
Gene Sakahara, who retired Monday from a GUSD recruiting position, found most of his success recruiting teachers by using the Web site ed-join.org. The next best method was by attending recruiting fairs.
In the spring, when warnings of hundreds of pink slips appeared across East Side Union High School District in San Jose and in neighboring school districts, GUSD’s human resource department felt the hiring process might be a little easier.
“For about a month it made us feel good,” Piceno said. “And then none of them came.”
One problem plaguing efforts is the rising cost of housing in South County. District officials are looking into offering incentives such as signing bonuses to attract teachers to the area, Sakahara said.
“We have to explore (incentives) because (teachers) are interested in coming to California, to this area, but the cost of living is high,” he said.
Fishel moved to Hollister after she accepted her new job, citing affordability as one of her reasons.
In the past, GUSD has hired the bulk of its newly credentialed teachers from University of California, Santa Cruz, San Jose State University, Fresno State, Chico State and California State University, Monterey Bay.
But for some positions, the human resource department didn’t have to look too far down the street.
Longtime resident Jean Davis decided later in life that she wanted to be a teacher. After earning her teaching credential from San Jose State, she has taught third grade in San Jose for the past four years.
Her children have all attended Gilroy schools and now that her daughter is in high school, Davis decided she wanted to teach in Gilroy. She was hired to teach core language arts for eighth graders at Solorsano this year.
“I’m looking forward to their wisdom,” she said. “I totally believe in this district. It’s good to be home.”
