Despite a 3.0 GPA, a $1,000 scholarship to Gavilan College and
sparkling references, Rosalina Chavez won’t be graduating
Friday.
Morgan Hill – Despite a 3.0 GPA, a $1,000 scholarship to Gavilan College and sparkling references, Rosalina Chavez won’t be graduating Friday.
Chavez, 18, has all the credits she needs, but fell short – just barely – on the math section of the California High School Exit Exam.
Now she and others who know her are accusing the Morgan Hill Unified School District of letting her slip through the cracks, denying her the academic help she needed even after she asked for it last semester.
“I think back to when I enrolled last fall, and my advisors told me not to take geometry,” said Chavez, a senior at Sobrato High School. “I wanted to take a math class to help study for the exam, but my counselor told me I already had enough credits … and that other students needed to take geometry.”
Sobrato High School Principal Rich Knapp wouldn’t comment on Chavez, citing the school’s confidentiality policy, other than to say “She’s a hard worker.”
But one of Chavez’s teachers corroborated the story.
Chavez is one of 13 Sobrato and 18 Live Oak seniors who have not passed one or both parts of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).
Most are either special education students or, as in Chavez’s case, English learners.
According to Veronica Martinez, financial aid director at Gavilan College, Chavez’s story leapt out at officials processing applications for scholarships. Each year, the Gilroy-based community college awards more than a 100 need-based scholarships, but only a few as high as $1,000.
“She stood out to us,” Martinez said, adding Chavez showed steady improvement on her transcripts starting in middle school. “On her personal statement, on her transcripts … just her whole story jumped out.”
Arriving from Michoacán, Mexico at age 11, Chavez joined her mother and brothers and sisters. The family successfully gained citizenship.
There was little support at home to finish school. Her older brother and two older sisters had dropped out. One sister became pregnant at 15. Her mother spoke no English and worked to support the family, depending on Chavez and others to help out with part-time jobs.
