While Jackson Elementary was waist-deep in turmoil that often
was attached to alleged misdeeds by its former principal Garry
Dudley, the campus is urging all involved that it’s time to move
forward and refocus on supporting its children and teachers.
While Jackson Elementary was waist-deep in turmoil that often was attached to alleged misdeeds by its former principal Garry Dudley, the campus is urging all involved that it’s time to move forward and refocus on supporting its children and teachers.
The change agent who will head this effort is Ernie Zermeno – Jackson’s Program Improvement specialist – who will have an office on campus and work as a liaison between the district, the school and parents, especially the Hispanic community who under Dudley’s tenure have said they felt alienated and not welcome at Jackson.
One Jackson parent, Nancy Love-Giba, said the atmosphere on campus already feels different since Dudley left. “I’m looking forward to the positive changes for everyone at Jackson,” Love-Giba said.
Jackson is the only school in Morgan Hill Unified whose test scores fell this year and the only school in Program Improvement year five, which requires a restructuring of the school, including extra governance on campus, close monitoring by the school district and quarterly updates on progress to the county.
The unwanted Program Improvement label is given to schools and districts (MHUSD is in year 2) when students fail to meet the requirement by No Child Left Behind, which is determined by state test scores. In California, only schools and districts receiving Title I funds are placed in Program Improvement if they fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind, according to the California Department of Education website.
For Jackson, it has meant that since 2006, the subgroup of English learners have not met the benchmark and thus have been keeping Jackson in PI. A school must show growth on the Adequate Yearly Progress scale for two years to move out of PI and into “safe harbor.”
Zermeno hails from Gilroy, where he was the principal at Brownell Middle School and Gilroy High School in the 1980s. He’s been described by teachers who have worked with him as a man who can bring communities together and unite the school population. Zermeno was introduced to the English Learners Advisory Committee meeting Sept. 9 at Jackson, where he listened to Padres Unidos co-founder Roberto Aguirre dialogue with the about 20 Hispanic parents. Aguirre said he would have an after-school homework club up and running by this week – which has happened – to support students who are learning English.
Aguirre started a similar after-school homework study group at Paradise Valley where his children attend and praised its principal Phil Duncan for opening the school every Saturday for his students.
“Any ideas that you have I want to know,” Zermeno said Sept. 9. “We can go to Paradise and see what they do. I’ve talked to the superintendent to get his thoughts. I met with Mr. Dudley to find out where he is coming from. I want to know what is happening in Jackson Elementary and I want to hear from the parents, and the Latino parents.”
Zermeno will be on campus about three days a week. His duties include writing monthly reports “representing the movement of the staff towards the Single Plan for Student Achievement identified goals are developed,” quarterly presentations to the school board on Jackson’s progress and he will monitor classrooms to ensure the school’s goals are followed through.
Jackson’s student population has been called “unique” by district staff because about half the children live in the upper-class Jackson Oaks neighborhood nearby and half are bused in from the west side of Monterey Road in a low-income and mostly Hispanic community. Jackson’s population of English learners has not varied substantially in the last 15 years.
In 1995, the amount of English learners was about 30 fewer (149) than are at Jackson today (178). At the district that number has nearly doubled from 1,090 English learners in 1995 to 2,081 in 2010.
“We have to form a team. We can’t do it by ourselves. We have to change the foundation and the culture,” Zermeno said.
At the school board meeting Tuesday, several trustees asked that Jackson’s plan be reiterated for the public at a future meeting.
“I want to know what we have planned for year five. What we are going to implement this year to get Jackson back on track? I want another presentation on this. All I can think of is homework club and that’s not sufficient,” Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot said.
The trustees agreed that the district’s PI schools – El Toro, year two; San Martin/Gwinn, year two; P.A. Walsh, year four and Jackson – should provide quarterly progress reports.
“This is crisis-mode,” Trustee Don Moody said. “I want to check in with all of the schools in PI and make sure they’re on track.”
For Jackson, the community simply wants to find a fresh start.
“The school now has an opportunity to take this time of difficulty and turn all of this publicity into a positive event. There has been a rift in our Jackson family and now we need to move forward, with the students, our children, as the focus of our efforts,” said Jackson volunteer and educator David Holmstrom, who dedicates his time to the GATE and enrichment programs. While his son moved from Jackson to middle school this year, Holmstrom is still connected to the school and its children.
He said he believed Dudley’s effectiveness as a leader was compromised by the complaints against him. Yet, now “we need to focus on getting our school out of Program Improvement and extending an olive branch to all that have felt alienated.
“I look forward to new, creative ideas and our Jackson family coming together again,” Holmstrom said.
