In an effort to relieve the overcrowding at Ascencion Solorsano
Middle School, Superintendent Deborah Flores has proposed opening a
fourth middle school as early as August 2011.
In an effort to relieve the overcrowding at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School, Superintendent Deborah Flores has proposed opening a fourth middle school as early as August 2011.
Next school year, Solorsano will swell to nearly the size of both South Valley and Brownell middle schools combined, thanks to the addition of about 180 transfer students – the majority of whom are incoming sixth graders – from the two other middle schools. Accommodating the ballooning population will require nearly $650,000 in extra classrooms and restrooms.
Brownell and South Valley are in fifth year Program Improvement, a designation given to schools that do not make federal growth targets on state standardized tests. This year, that target is set at having 56 percent of students at or above proficiency in math and language arts. Federal law allows families to transfer their children from a PI school to one that has met growth targets. In Gilroy, that school is Solorsano, home to almost 1,200 students next year.
Brownell and South Valley middle schools’ PI status and Solorsano’s subsequent overcrowding – topics that have been discussed in some aspect at nearly every board meeting during the past few months – prompted the most recent discussion of opening a fourth middle school at the former home of El Portal Leadership Academy. The Academy, adjacent to South Valley on IOOF Avenue, was shut down by trustees last year for failing academics and possible financial malfeasance.
According to Flores’ proposal, the school would open in August 2011 with sixth graders. Seventh and eighth grade students would be added over the following two years. Similar to the district’s existing three middle schools, the new school would have a seven-period day, core academic courses, and some elective offerings. District staff is investigating the concept of introducing a special focus – such as math, science or technology – at the school.
The creation of the new school would allow the district to stop allowing transfers to Solorsano, Flores said. However, the district would continue to honor seventh and eighth grade transfer requests to Solorsano during the first two years of the new school’s operation, she said.
Though the details were still sketchy, Flores said she anticipated that the cost of opening up a fourth middle school would be “minimal.”
Not ready to approve the proposal without more specifics, board members asked Flores to come back with additional information about the possibility of housing the fourth school in some of the vacant classrooms on South Valley or Brownell’s campuses.
“If we look at this and it’s not economically viable, we have to have another alternative,” trustee Mark Good said.
However, the district could not predict the number of students who would continue to request transfers if Solorsano was removed as an option, Flores said. There may not be enough room at South Valley or Brownell if students continue to transfer at the current rate, she said.
District staff plans to present additional details at the August 26 board meeting, which will allow them to factor the past school year’s standardized test scores, which are released mid-August, into the mix.
