Schools

The Gavilan College public information office has announced that all classes are cancelled today, Wednesday Feb. 22, at the main campus in Gilroy, and additional instructional sites in Hollister, Morgan Hill, San Martin, and Coyote Valley due to a tree falling on a power line near the Gilroy campus causing widespread power outages.

One of the nation’s top attorneys accused Gilroy school officials Wednesday of outrageous conduct in allowing a teacher to return to the classroom after a complaint alleging sexual misconduct with a student.Gloria Allred, who has been involved in high-profile women’s rights and other civil rights cases, addressed the Gilroy Unified School District board at its regular evening meeting on behalf of Celeste Benn, who has claimed that officials, including superintendent Debbie Flores, refused to listen or mete out appropriate punishment when she alleged in October 2014 that the teacher sent her daughter, 15, sexually charged text messages.The teacher, Douglas Le, 25, was arrested April 26 by San Jose police on suspicion of soliciting lewd photos from minor boys. He resigned April 29.“He should not have been permitted to teach [in 2014], children and families have been harmed,” Allred said before a nearly full chamber at GUSD headquarters on Arroyo Circle.Allred called for a full investigation into, among other things, whether school officials complied with all laws in handling Benn’s complaint, including those that require officials to report suspicions that an adult might be sexually victimizing a minor.The Los Angeles lawyer announced a press conference for 3 p.m. today at school district headquarters about what her press release called the "sexual misconduct" case. The GUSD office is at 7810 Arroyo Circle, Gilroy.On Wednesday evening Allred told the press there might be more minor victims.Calmly addressing the board, Benn called for changes in how the district deals with student safety issues.“You had one job to do and you failed to do it for my daughter and all the boys that followed,” she said.She described how she was refused meetings with Flores and Gilroy High School principal Marco Sanchez the day after the incident. The district only responded when she threatened to go to the media, but permitted Le to continue teaching, forcing her frightened daughter to transfer to Christopher High School, she said.As the meeting began, trustee Linda Piceno spoke for the board after a closed session. She said of the 2014 incident that Le’s behavior “did not rise to the level of dismissal” and that while his conduct was “unprofessional and unacceptable,” it was not a crime.However, an attorney who specializes in child abuse law and is closely involved in the Benn case told the Dispatch the district is wrong. A crime did occur, he said, because of the sexually explicit nature of the texts sent to Benn’s daughter. The district was required to report the incident to authorities, he said. He asked not to be identified.

Standardized testing for student assessment within the California public education system will be revamped for the 2013-2014 school year after legislation sponsored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson was approved May 1 by the Assembly Education Committee.

The recently completed $110 million Christopher High School is a vision of architectural excellence, but its athletic field – more or less a “pasture of dirt and natural grass in terrible shape” – is turning heads in a bad way.    

They will not be adopted until February, but officials this week offered an early peek at Gilroy’s ambitious education goals for 2017, many made possible by one of last year’s big successes: Measure E.

Gilroy schools are required to stay open for in-person instruction, even as high Covid-19 case numbers are keeping many students home and causing classrooms to be short-staffed, district officials say. Despite this, Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Deborah Flores said the district agrees with county...

Three Eliot Elementary School teachers use a variety of methods

Advice available for those who want it, but some parents claim

Gurleen Khajuria, a Gavilan College STEM tutor and aspiring materials scientist, has been awarded the 2025 Karl S. Pister Leadership Opportunity Scholarship.  The $20,000 award supports community college students transferring to UC Santa Cruz who have shown exceptional academic achievement, leadership and commitment to service. Gavilan...