Dear Editor,
There is an error in Kristen Munson’s otherwise excellent
article on the issues surrounding GATE: The article makes it sound
as if the Theater Arts director at Rucker receives one third of
$72,000.
Dear Editor,
I read today’s article about the Gilroy Unified School District
Gifted and Talented program. I found much of the article to be
accurate based upon my understanding of the issues.
Dear Editor
There is an error in Kristen Munson’s otherwise excellent article on the issues surrounding GATE: The article makes it sound as if the Theater Arts director at Rucker receives one third of $72,000.
That is not correct. I believe that the amount allocated for his compensation in that position this year was $9,000.
In the past, Rucker Theater Arts has been an integral part of the GATE program, with the director participating in the “Fantastic Fridays” portion of the program. That is why it has traditionally been partially funded with GATE money.
That changed this year, with the number of performances being reduced from three to one, and with the removal of the theater arts component from the “Fantastic Fridays” schedule. There was a corresponding decrease in the amount of money paid to the director.
Bill Hudson, Gilroy
Dear Editor,
I read today’s article about the Gilroy Unified School District Gifted and Talented program. I found much of the article to be accurate based upon my understanding of the issues. There were however, a few inaccuracies or omissions regarding funding that I felt should be corrected so that the public has a clearer picture of how their GATE money is spent. The article said,
“This year, GUSD was awarded $72,000 from the state for the GATE program, amounting to about $122.87 per student. But students never see a penny of it.”
In fact, Rucker School received $10,000 of that GATE funding for the 2004-2005 school year – $9,632 of that was paid to Jose Espinosa (Pepe) as salary and benefits for producing the Charlotte’s Web show (part of the classified salary money). Rucker’s theater arts productions have traditionally been dominated by GATE students. This year, 25 of 37 participants or 68 percent were students in the three GATE classes. In addition to the $9,632 paid to Pepe, we also purchased the music to the play, rights to use the script for six productions, props, costume materials, and paid for the piano accompanist/assistant director. The total cost of the play ran approximately $13,000. The balance above $10,000 was paid from other Rucker School funds. We have also used Rucker site budget funds to pay our technology paraprofessional to run PowerPoint classes for GATE kids as a part of the GATE Fantastic Friday program.
Last year we received no funding for GATE education at Rucker. Nonetheless, we paid Pepe about $16,000 to produce a theater arts show dominated by GATE students and to help with our GATE Fantastic Friday program. We also paid the costs of costumes, props, scripts, and an assistant director out of Rucker site budget funds. In addition, the district spent approximately $1,100 to send the Rucker GATE teachers to an off-site training on differentiated instruction for GATE students, and the school paid $906 to purchase above level reading materials for the three GATE classrooms.
It is important to note that as much as all of us would like to expand the offerings for GATE students here, $10,000 is not a lot of money when spread over a large number of students. Theater Arts is a highly valued program at Rucker School, but it is expensive. Since it is dominated by GATE students, we have used GATE funds to pay much of that expense over the past few years. That has left very little for other desired enrichment opportunities for students.
That leaves me with a question, “Do the students in Rucker School’s GATE classes see the GATE money?” It’s hard to tell. Twenty-five of them interacted frequently with the theater arts director in the course of the Charlotte’s Web play. They all have had the opportunity to participate in the PowerPoint classes and to read the above grade level books in their classrooms. Their teachers are using some of the differentiation strategies that they learned in last year’s training. Does that equate to “seeing” the money?
Running any quality program is expensive, and I am encouraged to hear that the GATE parent community is determined to raise additional funds to support our highest achievers across all of the grades. GATE students do have special needs and any support that they receive will be valued.
Steve Gilbert, Principal, Rucker School
