Schools

Gilroy public school choirs won’t be singing in church anymore, after several anonymous members of the public complained that holding concerts in a single faith establishment is not an adequate separation of church and state.

After months of volleying back and forth between district staff and charter school leaders, as well as dozens of testimonials from parents and educators on both sides of the fence, the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education finally voted Tuesday to reject Navigator Schools’ charter petition.

Interim Superintendent Steve Betando’s recommendation to the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education is to deny Navigator Schools’ charter petition to open an elementary school within district boundaries for the fall of 2014, according to the Board’s meeting agenda for next week. The agenda was posted online Friday afternoon. 

Out with the old and in with the new is what Governor Jerry Brown’s signature on Assembly Bill 484 signified today, Wednesday, as California’s public education system will recognize a new way to assess its students’ academic progress.

Meet Joy Kirkwood, a 17-year-old senior at Christopher High School and our "Student of the Week."

Students who miss 10 percent of the school year, or roughly 18 days, are more likely to drop out before graduating high school and become victims and/or perpetrators of a crime, according to Attorney General Kamala Harris’ 2013 report on California’s Elementary School Truancy and Absenteeism Crisis.

UPDATE: Larry Sanford told The Dispatch earlier this week that the design plans for the new Don Christopher Sports Complex at Christopher High School have been approved by the Department of the State Architect. The committee will meet Oct. 23 to begin developing the bidding process for contracts and hope to break ground at the site in early 2014.

There were a few loud bangs, and then Richard Manuel Castaneda, 27, walked out of a house at 750 W. Eighth St. with his hands behind his head.

Fourth grader Lillee Nolan at El Roble Elementary School didn’t mind getting paint on her hands Friday as she joined the rest of her schoolmates in a school-wide anti-bullying campaign event.

More than 50 California and out-of-state colleges are lined up for the 9th annual South County Cal-SOAP College Fair from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 7 in the Student Center on the Gilroy High School campus.