Three at Gilroy High resign in protest

San Jose Mercury News ^ | 7/9/02 | Pat Lopes Harris

[craig_eddy]

The principal and two assistant principals at Gilroy High School have resigned in protest of a district decision to implement a pilot honors program this fall in English and social studies for ninth- and 10th-graders.

In the latest Bay Area example of so-called academic tracking clashing with equal educational access, Principal Wendy Gudalewicz and Assistant Principals Cec Bell and Rosa Nieto said the honors program, which will place the district's top freshmen and sophomores in separate classes rather than mixing them with students of all abilities, will lead to segregation.

[craig_eddy]

Yeah, it'll lead to segragation all right: the smart from the dumb. Sounds good to me!!

[Dialup Llama]

What is really neat is the trend toward group work. Where the best two students in a group of five do the work while all 5 students get the grade. Not a good situation for the middle and lower ranked students either.

[w1andsodidwe]

Yeah, it'll lead to segragation all right: the smart from the dumb. Sounds good to me!!

We can't have that!!!We need to have the IQ challenged in their to make it equal. LOL! Love it when the libs go crazy.

[tom h]

Glad to hear that they quit. Three more addle-brained liberals out of the public school system that someone with common sense doesn't have to fire.

[Dimensio]

They worry students from Spanish-speaking households -- 65 percent of Gilroy High's 2,300 students -- won't enroll in honors classes even if they can do the work because their parents aren't aware the classes exist and won't push their children to take them.

Uh-huh...
blank stare...

I suppose that they would prefer if the more "gifted" students be required to wear headphones that would randomly blair out loud noise to disrupt their train of thought so that they would not get too far ahead of other students and make the less intelligent feel bad.

[BibChr]

Yeah, but... will this affect the Garlic Festival?

Dan

[GnuHere]

Awww...buh-bye.

[EggsAckley]

I've been visiting Gilroy my whole life, and recently it's starting to look like Tiajuana. Yet another quaint little town bites the dust.

[Tacis]

I'm interested in the "resigned" part. My bet is that they were marginal administrators who have decided to back to teaching where they get good pay, great benefits, invincible union protection and don't have to work very hard. I am ceratin the "resigned" part doesn't mean "to unemployed, searching for a job" status. I don't see a San Fran public school principal with that much principle.

[Eva]

I whole heartedly support advanced classes, as long as they are open to anyone and not restricted by pre-set qualifications. Kids tend to live up to expectations when
they are voluntarily challenged.

[belleoftheball414]

There's a problem with this at my school, too. I'm going to be a sophomore next year and I am not allowed to take an AP English class, even thought I scored within the top 3% on the Pre-SAT and passed 9th grade English with a A+. When I tried to push the issue with my counselor, her exact words were: "You can wait."

[skeeter]

They worry students from Spanish-speaking households -- 65 percent of Gilroy High's 2,300 students -- won't enroll in honors classes even if they can do the work because their parents aren't aware the classes exist and won't push their children to take them.

Really. I guess hispanic parents are incapable of caring for their own kids.

More proof (as if more were needed) that it is the liberal do-gooders who are the real racists.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

[mhking]

I'm sorry, when did tracking not become the norm? When my wife (She-who-must-be-obeyed) and I were in school, we were both in what were called "X-Track" (or accelerated track) classes through middle and high school (matter of fact, we were in the same middle school classes and crosstown rival high schools - couldn't stand each other then; but I digress - that's another story). My daughter starts high school next month, and has separate 'honors' courses for various subjects.

The PC crowd would rather dumb down the curriculum for the 'slower' kids? What about the faster ones -- you know, the ones that should be in the more advanced courses -- do the PC crowd want to slow them down so they won't get too advanced for the slower kids to keep up?

Talk about insulting and nuts. Is there any wonder that school children in other cultures and countries are smarter than ours are?

[ladtx]

PRINCIPAL, ASSISTANTS SAY DISTRICT PLAN WILL LEAD TO SEGREGATION

Now there's a racist remark if I ever heard one. Sounds like they are hinting that non-whites aren't smart enough to cut it.

[Viet Vet in Augusta GA]

The case for private/home schooling grows ever stronger...

[Orual]

They worry students from Spanish-speaking households -- 65 percent of Gilroy High's 2,300 students -- won't enroll in honors classes even if they can do the work because their parents aren't aware the classes exist and won't push their children to take them.

What kind of cock-a-manie reasoning is this? Is the honors program a secret? Teachers identify those students who have the capability to handle more advanced courses and the kids usually don't have to be "pushed". For the trigger-happy amongst you, I'm ready.

[Numbers Guy]

I'm going to be a sophomore next year and I am not allowed to take an AP English class, even thought I scored within the top 3% on the Pre-SAT and passed 9th grade English with a A+. When I tried to push the issue with my counselor, her exact words were: "You can wait."

Been there, went through that 25 years ago. I had thought that schools of choice would make things better--if a school district's best and brightest can go to another school, the school district suddenly gets interested in accommodating them. I have seen more responsiveness from districts in the past few years.

The whole leftist attack on G/T education is laughable. It's "elitist", according to these administrators, to challenge the best math students in a school with a more advanced math curriculum. But these same administrators will say it's not equally "elitist" to take the best basketball players in a school, spend money on uniforms, equipment, and transportation, and call them "the basketball team".

[lepton]

as long as they are open to anyone and not restricted by pre-set qualifications.

Like being able to do advanced math or remember the Table of the Elements? Some classes are ridiculously difficult to get around certain criteria.

[Magnum44]

The principal and two assistant principals at Gilroy High School have resigned in protest of a district decision to implement a pilot honors program this fall in English and social studies for ninth- and 10th-graders.

Bu-bye!