Guest column by Kristi Garrison: It’s time GUSD listens to parents and opens secondary schools

Gilroy is one of a handful of districts not offering  in person education to its secondary students

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By Kristi Garrison

April 20, 2021 should be a day of joy for Gilroy’s middle and high school students. After watching the elementary students return to school and their peers throughout the county, state, and nation return, many of whom have been back since the fall, and are now full time, Gilroy’s secondary students should have experienced their first day of in-person education in more than 13 months. Our children were denied the opportunity to interact with teachers in-person, socialize with peers, an experience that every child needs and deserves. An experience Gilroy Unified’s board of trustees denied our students.

On March 25, 2021 when Gilroy was in the orange tier the GUSD School Board voted no on two different reopening plans. Their reasons for voting no ranged from inconvenience, to inequity (nothing is more inequitable in education than students not receiving an in-person education), Gilroy’s case rates and how many people students would interact with in one day. Before the second vote, which kept our children in distance learning for the remainder of the school year, the school board was reminded that they were voting from the safety of their own homes. This was odd, as they had approved the return of elementary the week prior.

Currently, Gilroy has one of the lowest case rates in Santa Clara County. I would love to see local  leadership commend our citizens for their hard work and stop citing outdated COVID-19 data. Many things have changed since our community infection numbers were high, things like new county and state guidelines and vaccines.

Today, my 9th grader will again be looking at a computer screen, seeing her hardworking teachers, and the blank screens of her classmates. She was devastated not once, but twice, when our board voted down four different options to return. This is unjust.

The narrative and culture of our community has been changed throughout this year regarding the rights of our children. The feelings and opinions of a few elected, or not elected, public officials can go against the wishes of our community, current administration, state government, Center for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health. In-person education is the prevailing educational standard. A standard agreed by our state’s system of education, child development and teaching professionals. All parents in Gilroy should have the opportunity to choose what is best for their children’s education, including the opportunity for an in-person education.

Teachers have stepped up to the task, and then some and served their students. They should have been given plans months ago, to avoid the added stress of possibly having to pivot the last few weeks of school and change their curriculum again. Other districts had plans in place months ago with models throughout the country and private schools in our community open for months now. It appears as though the plan was to never return to in-person school this school year.

It is baffling to me, after more than a year of hearing the cries of “follow the science!” that GUSD is an outlier. According to the data published on California Safe Schools for all hub, Gilroy is one of a handful of districts not offering  in person education to its secondary students. This sentiment was echoed during one of my calls to the Santa Clara County Office of Education where I was told “everyone else has managed to figure it out.”

I am a parent in this district, as well as a former teacher, administrator, coach, and youth sports advocate. I left education years ago to start a business with my husband, and I, like so many parents and community members, want nothing more than to help the children in our community, especially during these trying times. I am far from alone. There is a growing community of parents advocating for our children and doing what we can to fill the void in leadership in GUSD.

Since last summer, I, like many it turns out, have been offering and pleading with GUSD to help in any way. I’ve asked for minutes from the reopening planning committee, to be a part of the reopening committee, to volunteer my services, as a coach (I am vaccinated and have clearance). I’ve asked for updates on reopening, to have representatives from the district call me and for reopening plans to be added to the board meeting agenda. These requests have been met with silence.

I am hopeful that GUSD will fulfill their legal obligation to provide in person schooling to the greatest extent possible, as soon as possible, and stop making excuses as to why this is too challenging. Enough is enough, the data shows that our children are suffering harm that will take years to undo. It’s time to reopen Gilroy’s middle and high schools for in-person learning.

Kristi Garrison is a coach, former teacher and administrator. She was involved with the Let Them Play movement and is part of Advocating for Gilroy Students and for the reopening of Gilroy schools.