Politics

What began as a way to draw attention to a flagging downtown district, a virtual group on social media has become a bit player in Gilroy’s local elections this year, securing a community award in the process.

Trustee Darcie Green was unanimously voted as new board president for the Santa Clara County Board of Education for the coming year during the Dec. 10 meeting, while Trustee Anna Song was given full support from her fellow board members to be named vice president.Green was appointed to the board in 2012 to fill a vacancy in Area 6. She currently serves as the community and government relations manager for Kaiser Permanente South Bay, according to SCCBOE staff. Green was named recipient of the 2014 Barbara Jordan Leadership Award, which honors young elected officials who demonstrate a distinguished record of public service to their community.Son was elected to the board in 200 as the first Korean-born female to be elected in California’s history, according to the SCCOE announcement. She also serves on the County School Boards Association Executive Board.

The fight over the proposal to put 4,000 homes on 721 acres north of Gilroy is nowhere near over, even though the project has been temporarily shelved.This week the battle got hotter, as opponents of the project, who go by the name Growing Gilroy Smarter, lashed out at project developers for what they said was a desperate attempt to mislead voters.Project opponents post their messages on the website address GilroyGrowingSmarter.org. But the Rancho Los Olivos developers bought the dotcom version of the same name, which sent users to a site promoting the Rancho Los Olivos development.Members of the Growing Smarter group, who are collecting petition signatures for a ballot measure that would require voters to approve any new big developments in the city, cried foul.“I went to the Gilroy Growing Smarter page and typed in .com on accident and up pops the page of your development,” wrote Joe Lovecchio in an email to the Los Olivos developers. “Y'all must be getting desperate now. Marketing at its lowest form. I bet the people over at GGS are flattered. This just confirms how shady a deal this is. Rather than create an identity you’d rather use smoke and mirrors. I’ll make sure to inform others of your tactics. Best of luck.”David Lima, one of the Growing Smarter leaders wrote in an email to the Dispatch: “Is hijacking our visitors a form of flattery?”Kristina Chavez Wyatt, the publicist who bought the GilroyGrowingSmarter.com domain name, said she did it in order to make sure that people who were interested in seeing Gilroy grow smarter were informed about the Los Olivos project. However, after hearing complaints, she said Wednesday she would take it down or redirect the .com requests over to the Gilroy Growing Smarter.org website.“If you believe you’d like Gilroy to grow smarter, then Rancho Los Olivos is a sound decision,” she said, adding that a competing project was worse. “If you believe building 1,000 houses south of town on prime farmland without being vetted for the California Environmental Quality Act or having proper provisions for schools or traffic mitigation . . . that is a concern. It’s important that people get the facts and the Rancho Los Olivos website has facts.”Later in the day she texted: “I’m working to release the .com URL or just redirect to org. No need to cause unnecessary distractions.”Chavez Wyatt said she had been attacked on social media sites and called “slimy,” which she resented after years of community service. “We are just trying to bring out the facts,” she said.The application to rezone farmland and annex land as a prelude to the construction of 4,000 or more homes was withdrawn in January. Mayor Perry Woodward and the project’s developers issued a press release saying the project was paused to educate the public about the plan’s benefits.“I would say the application is not active currently but the Rancho Los Olivos landowners investment team and developer would very much like to see the application proceed at the proper time,” said Chavez Wyatt.“One reason why Rancho Los Olivos pulled the application is that they got stuck in a political cycle. Now that they’ve invested in facts and research, the community gets to know the details behind it.”She added that the developers and the city have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars vetting the proposal and making a long-range general plan for the area, which would be thrown out if the Gilroy Growing Smarter group has its way.Also, requiring a vote for new development would discourage businesses such as Google from building in the city, she said. The initiative drawn up by Gilroy Growing Smarter exempts industrial campuses consistent with the general plan from the public vote requirement.The Gilroy Growing Smarter group has until September to raise almost 2,000 signatures and put a measure on the November ballot that will restrict the council’s authority to authorize new residential growth outside of city limits.

More than 50 students, parents and members of the community marched nearly two miles through Gilroy to City Hall Thursday at noon to celebrate unity and diversity, things they said were absent in the campaign rhetoric of President-elect Donald J. Trump.The march, organized by the Student Democratic Club at Gavilan College and including local middle and high school students, started at the old CVS store on First Street and continued along Hanna to City Hall, where the peaceful gathering concluded with speakers and a sharing circle on the complex lawn. As they marched they chanted “Unity through diversity,” “The people united will never be divided” “Hey Ho Racism has got to go.” Noshava Afzao, a Gilroy educational consultant who trains teachers, and wore a hijab said she was there with a flag to accent that liberty and justice “was for everyone.” She worried about how the election would affect that. “There’s a lot of disappointment,” she said.  “The election is a wake up call. I thought we lived in a country that had made progress and this just shows how much progress we need to make.”As word spread that students at Gavilan College were planning a citywide walkout, school administrators scrambled to inform high school parents.“Gilroy is a lovely little bubble of people who are not always proactive. We want to acknowledge voices and create a coalition,” said Sarah Najar, Vice President of the Gavilan Democratic Club.An email to Christopher High School parents from Principal Paul Winslow said: “FYI High School Parents: Someone is encouraging students to cut school” and “while we definitely support free speech, the right to assemble peacefully, and the right to express opinion” students who missed school to participate would be penalized and not be able to make up work.Lisa Ruiz, a parent of Gilroy students with special needs, said she received a call from the GUSD the night before alerting her that any absence would be considered unexcused, but felt she needed to come anyways.“I got to be here in solidarity with the minorities in the community and to see what we can do to help to unify everyone not be divided and hopefully we can get together in love.”As people gathered in the parking lot, members of the Gilroy Police Department kept an eye on proceedings. Sgt. Wes Stanford had a team of motorcycle officers  charged with making sure the demonstrators were safe walking the mile and a half between First Street and City Hall. The department was notified of the march, but organizers didn’t know they would need a permit. “We want to make sure that it’s peaceful, that they are allowed to voice their opinion and whatever views they have and they get to City Hall in a safe fashion.” Stanford said the city has had sporadic marches over the years with the last one he remembers an Occupy Gilroy march of eight people.The well-behaved crowd began their march up First Street - along the sidewalks and stopping at all intersections, using the crosswalks - the sound of honking cars mingling with chants calling for unity.Iris Cueto, 23, a Gavilan biology major, said “The election is making me feel sad, but it’s also making me feel happy to have youth standing up for their rights. It’s nice to see them out here protesting in a peaceful way.” Holding up a coat hanger poster that read, “Never Again,” Summer Diaz, 18, said: “I believe everyone should have their rights. I believe that women should make their own choice and politicians should stay out of women’s rights. “ When the marchers got to City Hall they were offered bottled water by the student organizers who then thanked the crowd for obeying all the traffic laws and the police for “keeping us safe.” Addressing the group, Dr. Enrique Luna, who teaches history at Gavilan, said “we don’t want to be here, but there is a need.” Thanking the march organizers for putting on the event, he said at times he was both laughing and shedding a few tears during the march to city hall. It’s hard to build a community, it’s easy to destroy a community. And we are here to do the hard work.”    

Downtown residents and struggling business owners seem to cringe

A ballot for state Senate District 15? This must be Groundhog

Mark Good has served on the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees for nearly 12 years and wants to continue to work on education issues with what he believes has been a good and effective team of board colleagues.An attorney and retired Gilroy police sergeant, the incumbent served one four-year term after being first elected in 1996 and did not run in 2000. He ran and won re-election in 2008 and 2012.Good is one of a trio of candidates actively seeking three seats on the GUSD board. A fourth, Paul Nadeau, withdrew from the contest but his name is on the ballot.Nadeau has said he will resign if he is one of the top three vote getters. If that happens, the board will appoint an interim member who may run for election in 2018. It does not have to be the fourth-place finisher.The election comes at a time when trustees are poised to begin $170 million in Measure E building projects, are struggling with somewhat improved but still lackluster test scores and are battling a lawsuit over the districtís decision in 2014 to not fire a teacher now accused of sexual misconduct that targeted students.Good’s and Pace’s profiles are in today’s edition. Candidate BC Doyle’s profile was published last week.Each candidate was asked to respond to three questions. Each was given a 700-word limit but could submit less.Good, 58, is the father and stepfather of five children who went to Gilroy schools. He is a former GUSD board president and supported Measure E.He is a partner and member of the intellectual property, commercial law and real estate litigation practice groups at Terra Law LLP in San Jose.Asked why he is running, he said, “Essentially I think we have turned the district around in a lot of ways. A lot of good things are happening. The board I was on in the ’90s did not work nearly as well as the current board.”Here are the questions posed to each candidate and Good’s responses: DISPATCH: What are some of your specific goals if elected and how would you achieve them? Please discuss your three top priority goals.GOOD: My top three goals are 1) reducing the achievement gap; 2) further reducing the dropout rate; and 3) ensuring the safety of our students and staff.In GUSD, English Language Learners (ELL) represent almost 30 percent of the student population. We have a variety of initiatives in place to help ELLs and are currently in the third year of a master plan for services to English learners. It starts with identification, assessment and proper program placement followed up with appropriate instruction in English language development appropriate to the student. We have made significant improvements in this area and need to continue our forward momentum until the gap is closed.Since my election to the board in 2008, the dropout rate has been reduced from a high point of 26 percent in 2008 to 7.5 percent in 2015. For the first time, we also now have a program administrator who is responsible for school climate and district attendance. Students who do not attend school regularly are much more prone to drop out. This is an area which has to be constantly monitored.When I first ran for the board in 1996, I ran on a platform of increasing school safety. I was compelled to run after a student was fatally stabbed at Gilroy High School. Since that time, the high school campus was closed and security fences have been erected at all schools. Safe school locks have been installed at all secondary schools and additional locking devices were purchased for our elementary schools. We have worked closely with the police department while implementing all of these changes, and for the first time this year, we now have two full-time school resource officers assigned to the district. While some are at or near state averages and others show some improvement, in almost all categories Gilroy’s state test scores are below minimum state standards. This was true in recent and past rounds of tests. What will you do to improve test scores? Fundamentally, the assertion that our test scores “are below minimum state standards” is incorrect. Based on the overall CAASPP data, the district is actually at or above the state average depending on the area.In this second year of the new Smarter Balanced assessment system, scores across the state, and across the country are significantly lower than on previous (paper and pencil) assessments.In 2016, GUSD made growth in both English language arts and math, as compared to 2015 (6 percent point increase in ELA, and a 3 percent point increase in math). The district matched the overall state performance in ELA (49 percent met or exceeded standard) and continues to rank above the state in mathematics (In GUSD 40 percent met or exceeded standard).Santa Clara county tends to score much higher than the state in most academic areas, but much of this is due to the fact that Santa Clara County has very different demographics than much of the state of California.While GUSD’s overall CAASPP scores are below the county average, when looking at subgroup data, Gilroy was at or above the county average in many significant subgroups on the 2016 CAASPP results. In particular, Hispanic students in both ELA and math, and socio-economically disadvantaged students in math. GUSD made growth at all seven grade levels in ELA. GUSD made growth at six of the seven grade levels in mathematics.GUSD compared favorably to neighboring school districts in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz. Gilroy’s public charter school, Gilroy Prep, has consistently been one of the highest scoring schools in the state in key categories and grades tested. Should GP’s methods be mandatory in all GUSD elementary schools and why or why not?Many of GP’s methods are not permitted under the Education Code and/or collective bargaining agreements. We have implemented some of the same instructional practices, for example use of the MOBI, grouping students for small group reading instruction and using some of the same texts. However, there are many differences as we cannot replicate due to inadequate funding and the Education Code. Some major differences that we cannot implement include iPads and other technology in every classroom at a 1:1 ratio for students, highly trained para-professionals that teach in place of teachers which we are not permitted to do (effectively reducing the class size ratio), and a longer school day. There are also two or three instructional coaches just at GP (which is what we have for eight elementary schools). The bottom line is that they receive more funding than we do and do not have to abide by union contracts, providing more flexibility in how they offer programs and services.   

The former Gilroy Garlic Festival building may finally be

Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco has left his job as an aide to Santa County Supervisor Mike Wasserman, saying he wants to devote a full-time focus to his part-time role at City Hall. Velasco, elected to his first term in 2016, said this week he left...