Schools

 Gilroy high schoolers are getting a big dose of help to make their college and career dreams come true—and for some, to start thinking about college at all.

It’s here we come, Moscow, for a group of Christopher High School drama students who have been invited to participate in a Shakespeare festival.The teens received an enthusiastic go-ahead from the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees for a 12-day trip that includes a short stay in London and most of 2017 spring break in the land of the Bolshoi and borscht.“It’s an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” CHS principal Paul Winslow told trustees before they voted at their Oct. 6 meeting to approve the March-April field trip.And there wasn’t a nyet among them.“It’s a fabulous and wonderful opportunity for students, I wholeheartedly approve of this,” said trustee Linda Piceno.Colleague Mark Good echoed her sentiments. He added that his son spent three months studying the Stanislavsky acting method in the same Moscow program while earning a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Harvard.Gilroy High School grad Steven Good is now a working actor, singer and musician in Los Angeles. He has performed at the famed Mark Taper Forum and in a feature-length movie for Lifetime television, among other roles.CHS drama director Kate Booth and Gretchen Yoder Schrock, CHS Sister City/International Club Advisor and Spanish teacher, will accompany the 14 teens to London and Russia. Twelve of the students are seniors, one is a junior and one is a sophomore.They are: Jacob Yoder Schrock, Grant Schaper, Jacob Flores Lopez, Owen Emerson, Devan Corini, Brandon Quirke, Annemarie Hayes and Cassidy Andrews.Also traveling to Russia are Samantha Drews, Melinda Colbert, Adaline McCaw, Michaela Hawkins, Brenda O’Connor and Sabine Yoder Schrock.Booth outlined for the board a busy schedule for the eight girls and six boys who auditioned for and won roles in the production being readied for the trip—Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.“Aside from an extraordinary opportunity to grow as artists and learn history, language, literature and culture from a unique perspective, the trip to Moscow is a true exchange,” she wrote in the 18-page application for student travel.“I am jazzed that they approved us,” she later said. Because the board has denied closer trips, including to Oregon, there was worry that Moscow might not be approved.Booth and Winslow said that rather than seeing the trip as missing four days of instruction, they view it as an opportunity for unique instruction during the spring break and of a nature that can only be had by a cultural exchange.The trip could have been undertaken under the auspices of the theater group’s booster club, but it has more weight and is better for both cities and schools for it to be an officially sanctioned GUSD field trip because “the whole point is to do a student exchange,” Booth said.The host school in Moscow is called the Slavic Anglo-American School Marina. Specializing in graduating students who are fluent in English, it hosts an annual international high school Shakespeare festival with all-English performances.CHS will represent the United States and there’s a Canadian school in the festival, too, Booth said.It’s not the first meeting of the Russian and CHS students. Marina students have visited CHS twice and are keen to create a long-term sister-school relationship, according the field trip supporters.In addition to attending a performance at the famed Globe Theater in London, CHS students in Moscow will participate in theater workshops, shadow their Russian hosts to classes, spend two days at the Moscow Art Theater Conservatory and attend a theater festival and four stage performances.Twenty-two advanced theater students in the Catamount Actor’s Theater (CAT) at Christopher High School auditioned for the slots. The number who can travel was limited by the host’s ability to transport the group around Moscow—their bus is too small for a larger group, Booth said.As it is, CHS will send one more person than they originally thought could be accommodated, she said.Of the performances CHS students will see, one will be either a ballet or opera at the renowned Bolshoi Theater, another will be an avant garde drama and one will be what Booth said provides a “new twist” on Stanislavski.Constantin Stanislavski was a Russian actor and director who created a naturalistic acting technique commonly known as method acting.Trustees said that their overarching concern in reviewing the proposal was student safety.Their approval includes a condition that if the U.S. State Department issues a travel warning for Russia, the trip will be off.Insurance and liability issues also were reviewed and not considered an obstacle. CHS officials assured trustees that students will be responsible for all classroom work missed during  their absence.And cost is not an issue, either. By law, Superintendent Debbie Flores pointed out, students cannot be charged for such field trips, assuring equality in access to educational opportunity regardless of ability to pay.In this case, the CAT booster’s club has raised in excess of $27,000 for travel expenses, more than enough for tickets, and the host school will cover many Moscow expenses.Per-student expenses are estimated between $1,500 and $2,500, which includes round-trip airline tickets between $700 and $800, according to the field trip application.  

A candidate has dropped out of the race for three seats on the Gilroy school board but missed the deadline for removal, so his name will be on the ballot.

Voters will weigh in on whether they like the state of education and local schools when they choose in November from four candidates for three seats on the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees.

Gavilan College students will soon be able to learn outside in a specially designed classroom where rocks are chairs and the surrounding gardens are living, breathing, teaching tools, thanks to a federal STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) grant the school received.

In the first district election in its nearly 100-year history, two candidates are vying for the one contested seat on the Gavilan Joint Community College District Board of Trustees.

GAVILAN COLLEGE, CA - The United States Department of Education yesterday announced that Gavilan College will be a recipient of $4,737,455 in federal funding for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education through the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HIS) STEM Program. The college learned of the award during a visit by a Department of Education officer, who was on campus to review the progress of the two prior grants. President Kathleen Rose said: “While touring campus he shared the news of the award of the STEM grant that will allow Gavilan to continue to focus our efforts on student internships, expand the math lab, and position students for science transfer programs with our partner institutions.” The grant to Gavilan College is for an initiative titled “Strengthening Hispanic STEM Students: Comprehensive Support, Guided Pathways, Renewed Learning.” It’s purpose is to increase transfer and degrees among Hispanic, low income, and first generation STEM students. One of the ways this will be done is by increasing support for these students. The college will use STEM funds to create an equipped, centralized STEM Support Center. The grant will also ensure that STEM students have access to a STEM counselor, and that prospective students and their families are receiving good information about STEM education and career options through outreach to the local communities. The Summer Bridge program for pre-freshmen and a Transition Academy for second year students will help STEM students transition from high school to college, and then from Gavilan College to a university. Another goal for the grant is to strengthen STEM pathways to transfer. This will help students navigate the many choices before them, and plan their educations to achieve their goals. Gavilan College will be developing “STEM Guided Pathways,” which will be streamlined program maps and articulation agreements with San Jose State University, creating a clear pathway from Gavilan College to a bachelor’s degree in the sciences. The third component of the grant is to renew STEM teaching and learning opportunities. Students and faculty will be able to participate in an inclusive STEM culture through the STEM Support Center. Faculty will also pilot new techniques and high-impact practices in their instruction.  Students will have access to accelerated remedial math and English and supplementary instruction in their introductory STEM classes, as needed, and continued access to student research internships in collaboration with SJSU faculty. “We are thrilled to be able to continue this important work, showcase the stellar work of our faculty, and leverage the relationships with our industry and community partners through internships and apprenticeship programs" said Dr. Rose. This award follows two prior STEM grants to the college, from 2008-2010 and from 2011 - 2016. The three grants combined have brought a combined $14,310,789 in federal funding to the community. Fran Lozano, Gavilan College Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences said: “STEM I provided much-needed science equipment; STEM II helped create indoor and outdoor instructional spaces, including the Native Garden and Arboretum; and STEM III will give us a STEM Support Center where students can congregate, hear lectures, study, share experiences, and grow in the subjects they love.” According to Dr. Rose, “This is yet another reason for the community to come see what is happening at Gavilan College today!” 

After a six-year wait, one of most successful programs at Gavilan Community College hosted grand opening ceremonies Tuesday for its new home at the San Martin Airport.

In the newest state test results, Gilroy schools showed improvement over last year and held their own or slightly exceeded state scores, but in every grade and category scored below other Santa Clara County schools.And a majority scored below minimum state standards, 52 percent in English language arts and 60 percent in math. For Hispanics, who make up roughly 80 percent of all district students, it was 59 percent and 69 percent, respectively—the so-called achievement gap educators statewide have tried to close.In five of the seven grades tested, more than 50 percent of Gilroy students on average did not meet California’s minimum standards in English and math.Statewide, only in third grade math, and in seventh, eighth and 11th grade English did 50 percent or slightly more exceed state standards, according to results released Aug. 24 by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson and the California Department of Education.The Gilroy Unified School District, in a press release issued Monday, put a positive spin on the results and acknowledged its scores lag behind those of other Santa Clara County districts while holding up well against state averages.“We’re happy to see that our students have matched the overall state performance in [English] and that we continue to do better than the state average in math,” said district Superintendent Debbie Flores in the press release.“When considering our scores in tandem with our county, we’re clear there is still work to do as Santa Clara County traditionally outperforms most of the state. But we’re seeing our district do quite well in comparison to other counties near us,” she added. The other counties were not identified in the press release.Gilroy students were on par with other California students in achieving the state’s goal of meeting or exceeding state standards, according the GUSD press release.“Overall 49 percent of GUSD students in English Language Arts and 40 percent of students in math met this goal,” according to the release.GUSD planned to send student scores to parents this weekThe California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, CAASPP, is in its second year of use. It replaced the long-used STAR test and is based on the state’s Common Core Standards.In a press release, the state Department of Education said California students had made “significant progress” compared to last year’s results, adding that “nearly half” met or exceeded English standards and nearly 40 percent did so in math.Torlakson expanded on the positive theme in the press release and noted improvement is needed.“The higher test scores show that the dedication, hard work, and patience of California’s teachers, parents, school employees, and administrators are paying off.“Of course there’s more work to do, but our system has momentum. I am confident that business, political and community leaders will join parents and educators to help continue supporting increased standards and resources for schools,” he said.More than 3.2 million students in grades three through eight and 11 took the CAASPP test, according to the Department of Education.All GUSD, Santa Clara County and California CAASPP scores can be found at the DOE website at this link: http://bit.ly/2ca57Ms.Gilroy’s charter school, Gilroy Prep, part of the Navigator schools group, outperformed by far all of GUSD’s regular public school classes. Of the four GPS grades tested, three through six, an average of 82 percent of students in English and 67 percent in math met or exceeded state standards. For Hispanics, 78 percent in English and 67 percent in math did so.Kevin Sved, Navigator Schools CEO, said in a release issued Aug. 24, “The 2016 results prove the success [last year] was not a one-time thing but, instead, a reflection of the multi-faceted approach Navigator has been employing since welcoming our first students in 2011.”  Navigator Chief Academic Officer James Dent said, “Learning we exceeded our 2015 numbers is both affirming and inspiring. We founded Navigator Schools to provide an alternative to our local underserved families and watching our dream come to reality is an incredible feeling.”At Gilroy’s eight other elementary schools, the lowest performing in English were Glen View, El Roble, Eliot and Antonio Del Buono, with 71, 67, 67 and 66 percent, respectively, of all third, fourth and fifth grade students combined scoring below state standards. For Hispanic students at those schools, the percentages were 75, 70, 76 and 66 scoring below.Math results for those same grades ranged from 71 and 70 percent below state minimums at Antonio Del Buono and Glen View, to 69 percent at Eliot and El Roble.Top performing elementary schools in English were Luigi Aprea and Rod Kelley, where 60 and 55 percent of students, respectively, met or exceeded state standards.In math, those same schools were on top with 56 and 55 percent meeting or bettering state standards.Scores for Hispanics districtwide were below those of all students—59 percent of Hispanics compared to 52 percent of all students scored below state standards in English language arts. The numbers were 69 percent vs. 60 percent in math.There were promising results, too. In grades three through seven, for example, although in all but one result more than half of students scored below state standards, there was some improvement over last year.The number of students meeting or exceeding state standards edged upwards when compared to those same classes’ performances the year before in both subjects. The only exceptions were fourth and fifth grade math results, which dipped.At Brownell Middle School, the number of students who met or exceeded California’s standards in English climbed by 13 points to 61 percent and math was up six points.At South Valley Middle School, English scores at or above state standards were up eight points, to 41 percent, while the math percentage was up seven points.English scores were up by five percentage points at Solorsano Middle School.At the high school level, the CAASPP tests 11th-graders. As at the other grade levels, students did better in English than math and a majority had good results in the former, exceeding state averages.At Christopher High School, 57 percent of students met or exceeded state standards in English, while at Gilroy High School the number was 53 percent. The state average was 49 percent.Math performances were lagging. At CHS, 75 percent of 11th-graders did not meet state standards, while at GHS 67 percent fell below. Statewide, 68 percent of 11th grade students scored below state math standards.

For the first time in years, Luis Carrillo was absent when the new school year started this week.