The first day of school at San Martin Gwinn Elementary was a classic coalescence of nervous tears, moms taking videos on their iPhones and amused parents spilling out of classroom doorways as they watched their children jump in – some more reluctantly than others – to the 2012-13 school year.
A forward-thinking program is adding to the swirl of excitement.
Thursday’s kickoff of the Dual Immersion Multicultural Education school – a landmark learning format that fosters bilingualism and biliteracy by teaching 50/50 in English and Spanish – marks the ushering in of a “new era” at Gwinn.
DIME is a direct result of Gwinn’s ongoing efforts to gauge community interest in new varieties of educational options for students. There are currently 64 children enrolled between a first-grade class and a kindergarten class. DIME coordinators expect to expand the program each year based on community interest and student success.
“This is the little seed we’re planting that we’re going to have to nourish for a long time to see the flowers and the fruits,” said Hilaria Bauer, director of curriculum and instruction for the Morgan Hill Unified School District. “We have children of all sizes, of all colors and of all backgrounds. We have Thai families coming to learn Spanish. It’s exciting.”
Aptly named to reflect its model, “dual immersion” integrates English and Spanish language minority students into one class to develop high levels of language proficiency, academic achievement and an understanding of diverse cultures.
“Truth be told, the opening has been amazing,” Superintendent Wes Smith said Thursday afternoon. At 2:30 p.m. Smith was driving to the last of the 14 school sites for a visit – he had stopped by each school on the first day, as he does each year.
“The thing that I’ve noticed watching people on campus, people seem really excited about this school year, and not just about the new programs we have, but parents are assembling to meet their new principals … it’s exciting,” Smith said.
He did say that the district will work hard to expedite the process of ensuring students are in the right class and the district’s elementary school class size average of 29 students to one teacher is met.
“The first day for me is one of the best days of the year. My kids don’t like to hear that,” Smith said laughing, who has three children who attend MHUSD schools. “But everyone’s smiling. It’s a great day.”
The optimism appeared evident as little ones seemed to be doing just fine Thursday morning at San Martin/Gwinn as they sang, chanted and repeated words together in a family-style learning format.
“Ethan, es mi amigo, o mi amiga?” asked teacher Dana Reginato to a group of first-grade boys and girls.
“Amigo!” they chirped in unison.
Reginato’s homeroom is a visible fiesta of words; terms like “ventana” (window), “la puerta” (door) and “el reloj” (clock) written on note cards and taped to their respective objects.
Parent Swami Nathan stood by in the background, smiling as he watched his son, 6-year-old Sachin Swami, sing along while Reginato played the guitar and sang “Al Tambor” (“The Drum”) with her class.
“They pick it up so much faster at this age,” said Nathan, whose wife speaks Spanish.
Just two classrooms down the way, kindergarten students in Teresa Martinez’s class sat in a circle. They passed around a small beanbag while chanting letters of the alphabet in Spanish.
“Donde esta mis basos ahora?” asked Martinez, visually demonstrating the answer by holding her hands above her head.
By now, 5-year-old Allison Avina had stopped crying and was watching intently as her classmates got up one by one to find their names on a display board, then introduce themselves by beginning with “me llamo…”
Prior to the start of class, Allison cried and pleaded with her mom, Kristine, not to leave.
“I was fine up until then,” chuckled Kristine, on the brink of tears after she tore herself away and walked quickly out the door without looking back.
Teachers Reginato and Martinez say they’re thrilled to play a key role in the new program.
“It’s a fantasy for a teacher. A dream come true,” said Reginato, who expressed gratitude for the strong community backing that bolstered the establishment of the dual immersion program at Gwinn.
“This is a research-based model,” she noted. “It works, and it’s exciting … as they see the success, it will spread and be able to expand.”
DIME has a back-to-school night at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19. Additional information can be found on the district’s website at www.mhu.k12.ca.us.
Jackson opens as Academy for Math and Music
As Morgan Hill Unified rolls out another school year to more than 9,000 students across 14 campuses, Jackson Elementary changes its name (Jackson Academy for Math and Music) and its scope (now kindergarten through eighth-grade).
With Jackson’s complete revamp and renewal and San Martin Gwinn Elementary’s brand-new dual immersion English-Spanish model – it’s a new era in Morgan Hill Unified.
“It is quite a privilege to be a witness of that,” said Hilaria Bauer, the director of curriculum and instruction. Bauer, herself, started with MHUSD about 12 months ago.
Jackson Academy opened Thursday morning to 581 students and 20 teachers (almost all of which are new to the Jackson campus) with a resounding gong sound.
Yes, a gong.
Principal Patrick Buchser, formerly of El Toro Elementary, wanted to start anew at Jackson and ring in the new school year different than his bell-ringing tradition from El Toro.
“Thank you for giving me this charge, this challenge,” Buchser said to the school board at its meeting Tuesday night. “I haven’t felt more alive than in this opportunity; the opportunity to really make a school what we want to make it,” Buchser said.
The evolution of Jackson from where it was to where it is now, ebbs and flows, but in the last five years its story is one of challenges. Under former Superintendent Alan Nishino, principal Garry Dudley took over the school – and under his direction it fell into Program Improvement as the school population added a growing number of “English Learning” students (a mostly Hispanic population). After a long list of complaints against Dudley for harassing students and his employees, he retired and was replaced by a team of specialists to reconstitute some structure and streamline curriculum. Then Elvia Teixeira, who has worked in similar schools with success, was named principal but left to lead PA Walsh this school year after the board approved April 24 to transform Jackson, located at the base of the elevated Jackson Oaks neighborhood east of U.S. 101 near Dunne Avenue, into a magnet school, adding extra grades through eighth.
The school remains in Program Improvement, in the worst distinction of year five, and cannot move beyond there until state test scores increase at a certain level for two years. Results of the 2011-12 tests are set to become public at the end of this month.
Finally, Buchser is at the helm at a school that the district touts as a place to build upon the progress that’s been made in the last two years and “rigorous engaging teaching strategies and documented evidence of student learning will be the bedrock of the new school,” said Smith.
At Jackson Academy, teachers will receive coaching to provide students with more math than previously found in the curriculum, along with an instrumental and choral music focus for all grades. The magnet model allows the school more freedom in its achievement choices, though its still governed by the school board and overseen by the district, different from Charter School of Morgan Hill.
Buchser said the staff is energized to get in the trenches and start teaching.
“People who last in education are those who have passion and who are genuine. I’m transparent about my thinking – kids are first,” Buchser said. “I’m tired, and I’m excited and I’m going to beat that gong and that’s going to be super fun,” he said.
Jackson invites the community to an all-day music festival, Friday, Aug. 24 at 2700 Fountain Oaks Drive.
