Schools

The “Every 15 Minutes” presentation at Christopher High School was an intense educational experience. Students saw first-hand the dangers of distracted and drunken driving when some of their peers were “killed” in a simulated automobile crash.

It’s hard to imagine, but what if studying math were fun?

Chronic absenteeism in Gilroy schools has hovered around 12.5 percent in recent years, but a new approach has reduced that number and is keeping more kids in classrooms.

Hundreds of Christopher High School students saw some of their peers "die" in a massive car crash on the athletic field Wednesday.

A plan to slash the Gilroy school district’s energy bill dimmed slightly when officials discovered the price to repave the sprawling Gilroy High School parking lot will be more than expected.

Lice are Mother Nature’s quintessential survivors.

Amid praises of “good job” and star-shaped stickers, a student attending school in Gilroy may also receive a different kind of compliment: “excelente,” “muy bueno” or “terrifico.”

MORGAN HILL—Gavilan College broke ground Friday on a major expansion that will bring thousands of students to a new campus in San Jose’s Coyote Valley and focus heavily on law enforcement and public safety training classes.State Sen. Bill Monning and Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate helped cut the ribbon on the 55-acre parcel purchased for $18 million.Phase One of the project, to be completed within the coming year, is the construction of five modular buildings and a parking lot. This phase has an estimated cost of $21 million, of which about half will come from Measure E funds. The college has contracted Gilbane Building Company for the first phase. The new campus’s location, on Bailey Avenue in Coyote Valley, is convenient for students commuting from Morgan Hill or South San Jose.The expansion will provide a public safety training facility for individuals studying to become police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and 911 dispatchers.“Ten percent of Gavilan’s enrollment is public safety,” college spokeswoman Jan Bernstein-Chargin said. “Enrollment is about 5,600 right now.”The South Bay Regional Training Public Safety Consortium has been headquartered at Evergreen Community College since its founding in 1994. It’s composed of 10 colleges spanning from San Mateo County to Monterey County, partnering with regional law enforcement agencies to train students. Gavilan’s new campus is the latest instance of pulling together resources between colleges.Gavilan plans to have classes scheduled for fall 2016, with general education classes, selected based on student demand, held in the evening for students who work during the day. The Gavilan board anticipates that a future increase in enrollment at the campus—projected to be as high as 10,000 in 30 years—may prompt the Coyote Valley campus to become its own college.Gavilan president Steve Kinsella said he had been unsure whether he would be able to see the Coyote Valley campus begin within his lifetime. Kinsella, retires in June after 13 years as college president.The land Gavilan purchased in San Benito County will be also be used for expansion of the college. That project is currently in habitat-mitigation, a phase of expansion that also delayed the Coyote Valley campus.Gavilan currently has campuses in Morgan Hill and Hollister, both of which serve about 300 students. Like the Coyote Valley campus, the future San Benito County campus may eventually become its own college.