Dear Editor:
Is the community going to stand by and watch the school district
get rid of another outstanding school program!
Dear Editor:
Is the community going to stand by and watch the school district get rid of another outstanding school program!
Everyday in my work I hear “the students come first,” “think of the students,” “our students are our top priority.” This comes down from the district office. If this is the message you are sending the teacher, then you are not following that message. You are not thinking of the agriculture students and their education by firing the two most qualified, inspiring teachers that Gilroy High School has had since Mr. Kuntz retired.
Is the reason for firing these teachers because they do not match the “profile” of a GHS teacher? What is the “profile” of a GHS teacher? Do you have a rubric of these qualification? If so, I would like a copy. We work with “standards” and “rubrics” daily. Not all of our students are successful, but it is our job to help them, as a teacher, to be successful. If these two teachers didn’t fit the “profile” of a teacher, is it not your job to work with them to help them to be successful, or do we fire them with no explanation and no help to improve? I wish I could get rid of my problem students that easy.
I’m sure they have not committed a crime! Was it classroom management? If so, why wasn’t someone there to help them? Was it that their students API/MAP scores were not where they were suppose to be or did they voice how stressful this year has been with everything that has been added to our plates as teachers? Was the problem so big, that with some help, instruction and encouragement that these teachers could have been successful?
Why, if necessary, were they not put on “probation” and helped? You will not find many teachers that are as dedicated and inspiring as these two. Was Mr. Duarte fired because he would have received tenure next year making his firing more difficult? How many teachers are going to be willing to come into a program that has the reputation that you create at GHS? We as teachers need more “pats on the back” and less “put-downs.”
I encourage you to step back and take another look at this picture again. Was any help given? How can a teacher feel secure at his job when no warnings are given? How could a good evaluation be given and then later told that you don’t meet the “profile” of a GUHS teacher?
I would also like to remind the Board, that you were elected by this community to represent us. How can the recommendation of one person justify the firing of a teacher? This community that you’re not listening to now is the same one that voted you in and supported the bond. Also, there may be another time when you want community support and I’m not sure you can count on it.
The Board continues to say they are not cutting the ag program. Maybe it is not cutting it this year, but it is laying the groundwork. If the Board doesn’t find a credentialed agriculture teacher and have to put in a long-term sub, the program will begin to fail.
Even if a teacher is found, but he/she is not as dedicated as the ones fired, the students will be less interested in the program. So next year, the Board will say the numbers are down, there is not as much interest in the program and etc. Before we know it, yes, the program is gone, because you, the Board, laid the groundwork to make it fail. Why would you want to let a program go, when it has grown in student numbers, more awards have been received, and many students are inspired to set their goals for a higher education through the guidance of Dave Duarte? The ag program has helped many students continue with their education with the help of scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $8,000 a year. Are you going to let this program be dropped?
I have been in this district too long to not know what direction this matter is going. (This is exactly what happened to the outstanding Slingerland program.) Three years ago, you fired a principal for the neighborhood/ELL program. Then year two “No, the program is continuing, but we are not sure where it will be housed. It may be relocated on the Las Animas campus.” That never happened. Also, we were asked, “How many of you teachers are willing to follow the program if it is moved? “If there was support for the program, the district office would have said, “We have a new site, a principal and all of the support team to continue this program.” No, they passed the ball again. Now, here we are this year with the district saying we don’t have enough students to keep the program going. I wonder why? We never had the support from the district office. The same is true with the ag program. The district office has been trying to remove the ag program for years. Students are always discouraged from taking vocational subjects.
This is why I don’t trust you when you say the ag program is not being cut, just the teachers, because of a personnel problem.
Terry Wolfe, Fifth Grade teacher at Eliot School
Submitted Friday, April 4
