Perhaps it is Jackson Elementary’s distinction as
”
not a neighborhood school
”
that is stifling its progress, some parents suggested Wednesday
night at a town hall meeting in the library.
Perhaps it is Jackson Elementary’s distinction as “not a neighborhood school” that is stifling its progress, some parents suggested Wednesday night at a town hall meeting in the library.
The geographical boundaries stretch far and wide, Principal Garry Dudley described in front of an audience of about 60, dividing the school almost right down the middle – half being mostly white, English-only speaking students and the other is Hispanic students, some of whom are struggling with learning English basics.
Noelia Chavez, whose fifth-grade student has been at Jackson since kindergarten, pleaded with Dudley to explain why the school has not reached out to Latino parents through the English Language Acquisition Consortium; currently there are no ELAC representatives on Jackson’s school site council, and only one ELAC meeting has been held at Jackson this year.
“Why isn’t it working? Part of it is the transportation … we live in a whole bunch of different places,” Dudley said. “Do we have the energy there? Yeah, yeah we do. Have we worked together? No, no we haven’t.”
The meeting was contentious at times as the crowd of mostly parents and some teachers tried to better understand Jackson’s unhealthy disposition – it will enter its fifth year in Program Improvement in the fall, which demands that major restructuring occur at its campus through curriculum changes, staff development and how the school operates. A plan will be submitted to the Morgan Hill Unified School District by April 30 and implementation would begin on the first day of school, Aug. 17.
Much of the meeting was dedicated to trying to rationalize how Jackson is in the position it is, but Dudley did have two concrete items on the list of changes: Changing the bell schedule and extending the day to allot more time for both teacher collaboration and English development for language learners.
Jackson sits in Program Improvement as the “impossible” goal of No Child Left Behind looms over the school: 47 percent of all students in all subgroups must test proficient in order to meet the federal standards. Jackson’s test scores have increased since 2008 from 777 to 794, and has been improving since 2002, yet because one subgroup, ELL students, did not meet the criteria on the language arts test, all of Jackson will have to go through “dramatic restructuring” as required by law.
Some parents used San Martin/Gwinn Elementary as an example because it’s welcomed its Hispanic parents and even has after-school programs to help parents learn English.
Dudley will spend the next 11 days working on a plan he will be present to the Jackson site council at a public meeting at 4:30 p.m. April 14 in the library.
For now, parents want to see the Jackson administration and the school district working hard on putting details in a plan with very few right now.
“I expect Morgan Hill Unified to be one of the best in the country. My expectations are ‘we understand No Child Left Behind and we’re going to deal with it. Not, ‘woe is us.’ So, let’s get the plan out,” said father Harry Freitas, whose fifth-grade daughter has been at Jackson since kindergarten.
