Schools

Gilroy’s loss will be Berkeley’s gain, as all three of the city’s valedictorians intend to attend Cal in the fall.

Gilroy celebrated the spring installment of Bike to Work/School Day on May 14, the day when local commuters are asked to leave the car at home and find an alternative means of transit.Nearly 40 percent of Bay Area commuters live within five miles of their workplace, according to the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, which is holding bike-centric events throughout the region in May.The group states this is a manageable distance for even the most novice cyclists, but in Gilroy, where just 20 percent of residents work within city limits, the challenge to substitute the car or truck for a bike is obviously greater than tech workers living in the crux of Silicon Valley.This is where local advocates, city staff and innovative school initiatives have stepped in.At Las Animas Elementary School, where parents must contend with a neighborhood in flux as construction crews work all around the school, the administration has embraced a simple, but innovative program that aims to minimize traffic congestion during morning drop-off, while promoting healthy lifestyles.“When you have private taxis dropping off students in the morning, you have an issue with traffic,” said Las Animas school principal, Sylvia Reyes.The answer: a pilot program where once a month parent volunteers lead a “walking school bus” and walk a group of students the final few blocks to school. For the older kids, a “bicycle train” follows the same concept, this time with bikes.Reyes said the program, which started in October, has been a great success.“Our parents our wonderful,” said Reyes. “The program builds awareness and excitement and the early morning physical activity help with students’ concentration and energy levels.”The school also hosts family nights where kids can learn about bike maintenance and get their bikes fixed for free. And for the class that has the most students participate in the monthly bike or walk to school activity, they get an award at the end of the year.“The students get little treats so they notice that we are noticing,” said Reyes, adding that the school and program partners hope to extend the program to more days in the month.“We have noticed a decline of traffic and congestion on those Wednesdays when the program runs,” she said. “Our parents and volunteers have done a fantastic job supporting our students in getting healthy.”To ensure students are safe on their journey to school, city public works staff meet regularly with school district officials to assess the infrastructure needs of city schools, according to city Traffic and Transportation Engineering Manager, Henry Servin. Public works also meets with the school board four times a year.At the start of each school year, Servin says, city staff reviews bell times and walking routes to schools and addresses requests for crosswalks, signage or any other necessary structure.Servin is also the staff liaison for the city’s five-member pedestrian and bicycle safety commission, which works to promote bicycle safety in the city.The commission hosts “bicycle rodeos” in collaboration with the Gilroy Police Department, where attendees learn the rules of the road and can get some free bike-centric treats in the process. At one of the rodeos, kids got a free bike helmet.The commission also secured donations for critical signage along 6th street.Servin says “share the road” signage or street markings are effective tools in bicycle safety.“When motorists see designated bike lanes or “sharrows” (street markings) - any indicator that reminds them to share the road - they tend to drive safer, go slower and accident rates go down,” he said.“A little investment in paint and signs go a long way,” he said.Servin said the city is serious about making it easier for residents to walk or ride their bike in Gilroy.“It has been the expression of the city council and residents that they want more bike lanes and we are working to provide that,” he said, adding that the city’s general plan has a bicycle and pedestrian master plan.“Gilroy considers all residents needs - pedestrians and cyclists,” said Servin. “We are a very recreation-oriented community with over seven miles of bike trails and plans for 22 miles.”Getting commuters out of their cars for the daily slog, may be more of a challenge.Just 277 people in Gilroy get on a CalTrain daily to work or school, and of those, just over 30 regularly bike to the station, according to Servin.This is in addition to commuters using the VTA Express bus routes or private bus services from the likes of Google or Yahoo!“We are hoping that will increase,” he said.

Of the seven Gilroy school board trustees, Patricia Midtgaard has perhaps the finest of lines to walk when it comes to Measure E, the $170 million school bond proposal on the June 7 ballot.

Gilroy school campuses will soon have heart defibrillators to assist when a child or adult has a heart failure and quick action can save a life.Thirty automatic external defibrillators (AED) will be placed in schools and other district facilities and staff will be trained in their use, the Gilroy Unified School District announced Monday.GUSD partnered with the Gilroy Fire Department for the AED program, part of a City of Gilroy effort aimed at becoming a HEARTSafe community, according to GUSD spokeswoman Rachel Zlotziver.Sudden cardiac arrest occurs in about 6,000 children per year in the United States. Of those, 750 happen during sports activities, according to Zlotziver. Survival depends on early recognition, early CPR and early defibrillation. For every minute defibrillation is delayed, the odds of survival decrease by 10 percent, she said in a GUSD press release.“HEARTSafe is a public health initiative intended to help more people survive after sudden out-of-hospital cardiac arrest,” Zlotziver said.“When someone’s heart suddenly stops, they will generally not survive unless a number of interventions take place immediately, including CPR and defibrillation. As part of the HEARTSafe community program, the city is working to place AEDs in multiple locations throughout the community, including school sites, with a goal of having one AED per every thousand residents,” she added.The district ordered the AEDs and expects they will be installed in facilities over the summer, according to Zlotziver. Staff training will happen during the first three weeks of August, she said.At the GFD, Jim Wyatt of the Emergency Medical Services Division said that, nationally, the survival rate for those who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting is “a dismal” six percent.“Our goal is to change this rate by becoming a HEARTSafe Community through public awareness and education, lay person CPR and AED training, encouraging and partnering with our local business and nonprofit community to obtain AEDs, and working with our local hospitals and County EMS agency to provide the best pre-hospital delivery possible,” he said.Nationally, AEDs used by lay people make a big difference, according to statistics provided by Wyatt, including the following:Chances of survival increase nearly three times if a bystander uses an AED.  Communities with comprehensive AED programs that include CPR and AED training for lay rescuers have achieved survival rates of nearly 40 percent.GUSD will purchase 30 defibrillators that are compatible with fire department EKG monitors. GFD staff will help place the machines, start the program and provide training and annual refresher courses to staff, according to Zlotziver.“I am very excited about this partnership,” said schools Superintendent Debbie Flores. “While at one time AEDs were extremely cumbersome and difficult for school staff to operate, technology has advanced to the point where the equipment now available to us is easy to use, automatically diagnosing the heart rhythm and determining if a shock is needed. Employing these new AEDs on our campuses will enable staff to respond quickly if a child or adult is experiencing sudden cardiac arrest,” she said.One AED will be placed at each elementary school, two at each middle school and three at each comprehensive high school, including to athletic staffs. They also will be put in the district office and at other GUSD sites, according to Zlotziver.

More victims of Gilroy High School’s alleged sex-texting teacher have come forward, says the attorney for a teenage girl whose mother filed suit over school officials’ alleged failure to report and fire him in 2014 when obscene messages were sent to the daughter’s cellphone.

Top civil rights and sexual harassment attorney Gloria Allred sued Gilroy’s school district Thursday for negligence and failing to safeguard a 15-year-old high school girl from a teacher’s lurid sexual taunts even after her mother complained.The lawsuit presents publicly for the first time the explicit nature of some of the text messages Gilroy High School chemistry teacher Doug Le is alleged to have sent to the girl in October 2014.It was filed in Santa Clara County Superior court on behalf of the girl and her mother, Celest Benn of Gilroy.San Jose Police arrested Le, 25, on April 26 on suspicion of enticing minor boys by dressing as a woman and asking them for nude photos, according to the lawsuit and police.Le resigned from his teaching position April 29, some 18 months after Benn first alerted school officials to his behavior and the danger to her daughter and others.Le also coached track and was a student mentor and advisor at GHS, according to the suit.At a Thursday press conference in front of the Gilroy Unified School District offices on Arroyo Circle, Allred would not speak aloud all of the words in the texts, using a single letter at one point instead of the word for the male genitalia.They were, however, listed in the lawsuit as follows, with some editing: “You suck d . . . Yeah your whore mouth can fit whole apples in there . . . You’ll die alone . . .” and another about defecating on the teenager.The suit alleges the district and high school’s failure to prevent and stop Le’s behavior more than a year ago harmed the girl and that stopping and reporting him then might saved as many as 500 minor boys from Le’s advances.It calls Le’s and the district’s behavior “outrageous and extreme” and alleges also that the district knew that “Le had engaged in dangerous and inappropriate conduct, both before his employment [by GUSD] and during that employment.”Allred also claims that the district violated state law by not reporting what they knew to the proper authorities.Benn at the press conference read a prepared statement in English and Spanish that said, in part, “I am disgusted that the district did not do enough to protect my daughter. She had to leave her friends, her classes at Gilroy High School that we had moved cross country for her to attend.” Her daughter transferred from Gilroy High School to Christopher High School, but Allred said Le’s harassment of the girl continued even after Benn reported his behavior to school officials.Benn has said she tried to meet with GHS principal Marco Sanchez and district superintendent Debbie Flores the day after learning of the texts, but they refused to see her. It was only after she threatened to go to the media that the district looked into the matter, she said.Le was “slapped on the wrist,” Allred said, and was allowed to continue teaching and his sexual harassment of minor students.The suit was filed “to hold the school district accountable for the harm they have caused her and our family,” Benn said.Vicki Barone, a GHS English Learners teacher, said she helped train Le to work with English Learner students in his advanced placement, biomedical courses.At the press conference, she told Allred that Le was classified as a temporary, or non-permanent, employee, and later said those employees can be let go at any time.“Yet this guy ends up back, that is weird,” she said.Barone accused the district and high school of being more interested in its wrestling program and advanced placement classes than in doing the right thing.“Kids are being harmed,” she said, adding that when she emailed colleagues at GHS about the Thursday press conference she received hostile responses.When two women spoke at Wednesday’s school board meeting in defense of principal Sanchez, who is widely respected in the community, some in the audience applauded them.The district, in a statement read at both the Wednesday board meeting and Thursday press conference, claims it took all the action it could against Le and that while unacceptable and unprofessional, his behavior was not criminal and did not rise to the level of dismissal.The lawsuit alleges Benn’s daughter “has suffered and continues to suffer great pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life.”The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, including punitive damages.

A mural at South Valley Middle School has got back its tiger and a local family’s story has come full circle.

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.