Schools

Trustee Darcie Green was unanimously voted as new board president for the Santa Clara County Board of Education for the coming year during the Dec. 10 meeting, while Trustee Anna Song was given full support from her fellow board members to be named vice president.Green was appointed to the board in 2012 to fill a vacancy in Area 6. She currently serves as the community and government relations manager for Kaiser Permanente South Bay, according to SCCBOE staff. Green was named recipient of the 2014 Barbara Jordan Leadership Award, which honors young elected officials who demonstrate a distinguished record of public service to their community.Song was elected to the board in 200 as the first Korean-born female to be elected in California’s history, according to the SCCOE announcement. She also serves on the County School Boards Association Executive Board.

What inspires you?Freedom: the ability to be whoever I choose to be; and, after I graduate, the chance to go to college and pursue whatever degree I am interested in.What is your favorite subject in school, and why?My favorite school subject is English, because I can write and create anything my imagination comes up with.If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?I would like to reduce poverty so that everyone can have a chance to make their own futures brighter.If you could go anywhere, where would you go?I would travel to Germany to see all of the awesome German cars (I love cars)!  I would also want to taste all the unique foods.Name one big challenge in your life right now.Balancing my harder high school homework with all of my extracurricular activities, such as Boy Scouts, and a leadership camp called White Stag.What is your dream job?My dream job is working as a writer for a car magazine.What are your three favorite things?My three favorite things are cars, food and video games.What is your favorite book?“Phoenix” by Jeff Stone.What do you want to do after high school?I want to work for a German car magazine.Something that makes you smile:Something that makes me smile is seeing a tastefully customized car. I love those.Top three most played songs on your iTunes or iPod:1. “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crüe2. “Walk this Way” by Aerosmith3. “Enter Sandman” by Metallica

Like many of their classmates at Central High School, seniors Francisco Ruiz and Eric Velasco—two of more than 120 students who participated in Tuesday’s fourth annual “Rock the Mock” career readiness event—are already out job hunting.So when two dozen local business leaders came out to their campus to offer support and tips for securing employment, they soaked in as much as they could to take into their next job interview.“The (mock) interview helped me a lot,” said Ruiz, 18, who sat with Velasco and answered a slew of questions during their 14-minute interview time slot. “I’ve gotten to know what questions to work on.”Fellow seniors Gina Salazar and Alexa Mateo, both 17, felt the same way as they jointly fielded questions from Heritage Bank representatives Katie Garcia, an assistant vice president, and Alyssa Garcia, a credit analyst.“Confidence is key,” Mateo said.Students at Central were broken into groups of 30 or so and shuttled between different rooms on campus where local business leaders led workshop sessions in interviewing, interview preparation, business dress and the handshake challenge.The event was started by Chamber of Commerce President John Horner in an effort to connect business leaders with local youth and help pass along some of the skills that have made them successful adults.“When I joined the Chamber four years ago, I came in wanting to get our business leaders more proactive with the education community,” said Horner of his brainchild, which has employers heading to all three Morgan Hill Unified School District high schools over the next two months. “This year we’re bringing people to the schools so we can reach more students.”The first few years a select number of students went to the headquarters of Morgan Hill-based Specialized Bicycle Components—which co-sponsors the event along with BookSmart—to take part and reap the benefits. The group will head to Ann Sobrato High School on Jan. 14 and then end their tour Feb. 10 at Live Oak High School.“We want them to know that they all have something to offer and that there are businesses and people out there that want them as part of their team,” Horner said. “We want them to know that adults in this community are interested and care about them. These are successful people with good-paying jobs who are out here today.”Velasco, 18, retained valuable input from his second of four workshop sessions—this one titled “Dress to Impress” and led by Cherisse’s Hair Salon owner Cherisse White—where he learned about the appropriate attire to wear for an interview.“You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression,” said White, who has more than 30 years of career experience, including the last 12 running her own business. “It takes 17 (subsequent encounters) to change your first-impression opinion” of an individual, she added.Before rotating through the workshops, students were treated to the success story of Edith Ramirez, the Principal Planner for Economic Development for the City of Morgan Hill.“This is a very special day,” said Ramirez, addressing the Central student body inside the school’s multipurpose room. “(The people here today) care about you and they care about your future.”At the age of 14, Ramirez immigrated with her family from Mexico City into the United States, where she lived in a garage, didn’t know how to speak English and worked in the fields. Her first job was picking cherries and then cutting apricots.“I knew that I didn’t want that job,” said Ramirez, who dreamed of attending a university once she completed high school. Through hard work and determination, she learned English, graduated high school and proved her doubters wrong by earning a full academic scholarship to San Jose State University. In college, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.“Do not let anybody tell you that you can’t do it,” she said. “But it’s up to you to achieve what you want. It just doesn’t come to you. You have to work hard. It’s up to you to get it.”Central students got a crash course in how to prepare for a job interview from human resource specialist Brenda Glimpse as well as how to give a proper handshake when introducing oneself at a job interview.“We want to make sure that each student properly knows how to handshake and greet,” explained Chamber Board Chairman Rich Firato, who has run Firato Janitorial for the last 32 years. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t know.”As part of his presentation, Firato also showed each group of students a “Six Steps of Success” video hosted by former California Governor and Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.“The skills that the business people bring here today are essential to (these students’) success,” said MHUSD Superintendent Steve Betando, who was on hand for the event along with new MHUSD Board President Bob Benevento. “lt’s not only giving them the skills to get the jobs, but also to keep the jobs as well.”Central Principal AnnMarie Cobarrubias, in her first year at the helm of MHUSD’s continuation school, was especially impressed with the presenters and how receptive her students were to their pointers.“I think it’s imperative for them to see the support from the community. It’s vital to their future success,” Cobarrubias said. “They’re definitely getting a lot of skills and information with each session. The people here may be on the opposite end of the desk (during a job interview) one day.”

Newly elected trustees Gino Borgioli, David Gerard and Donna Foster-Ruebusch, along with incumbent re-elect Ron Woolf, will be sworn in at the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Dec. 9 Board of Education meeting prior to the caucus adjourning to closed session.

hed: Student of the Week: Ann Marie Zocchidek: Zocchi, 17, is a senior at Ann Sobrato High [email protected] HillWhat Inspires you?What inspires me is a person working as hard as possible to help others or better lives, even when they don’t receive anything in return.What’s your favorite subject in school, and why?My favorite subject in school is history. I love to learn about the past and the stories of people before me.If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?It would be for everyone to be more empathetic towards one another and looking at other’s perspective before making decisions.If you could go anywhere, where would you go?I would go to the cabin in Tahoe I went to when I was young. I only went there once, but the time I did is one of my favorite childhood memories.Name one big challenge in your life right now.A large challenge in my life right now is looking towards the future and college while still keeping up with what’s happening in the present.What is your dream job?My dream job is to be a physical therapist. It combines my love of helping others and using the biological and physiological sciences.What are your three favorite things?My three favorite things are good music, family, and rainy Thursdays.What is your favorite book?“The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.What do you want to do after high school?I hope to go to college in the northwest as a human physiology major or physical therapy major.Something that makes you smile:Something that makes me smile is helping someone with a task or problem, and having them succeed or feel better afterwards.Top three most played songs on your iPod:1. “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John2. “King for a Day” by Pierce the Veil3. “Human” by Christina Perri

Morgan Hill Unified Superintendent Steve Betando announced the hiring of two new principals and one assistant principal at the June 24 Board of Education meeting.

With three key goals of enhancing college and career readiness, improving parent/student engagement and fostering positive school climates, the Board of Education approved Morgan Hill Unified School District’s inaugural Local Control Accountability Plan at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

Jon R. Gundry will be the next superintendent for the Santa Clara County Office of Education, once the county board votes him in as expected at its July 16 school board meeting.

Gavilan College Trustee Tony Ruiz is concerned San Benito County isn't getting its share of funding from the $108 million dollar bond meant to improve college facilities and secure land for satellite campuses in Coyote Valley and San Benito County. “They buy land to put a community college outside the city limit, across from a golf resort?” said Ruiz, who accused the college of running out of money to purchase good land. “It doesn't make any sense.”Ruiz, who represents San Benito County on the Gavilan board, is referring to the plot of land called Fairview Corners north of Highway 25 near the Ridgemark Golf and Country Club that the college purchased with Measure E funds several years ago. The school also purchased a piece of property in Coyote Valley.Trustees approved the purchase of Coyote Valley property for $21,124,060 – more than twice what had been allocated in the original master plan. In San Benito County, they spent $9,838,755 – roughly $2.9 million less than was outlined in the same plan.“The price difference is because land is quite a bit more expensive in San Jose,” said Steven Kinsella, Gavilan College's superintendent and president.The goal for both sites during the land acquisition process was the same: Get 80 acres – which is considered a full-size college campus by the state – in both areas, said Kinsella.The end result was not quite what had been envisioned originally. The school brought home 55 acres in Coyote Valley for a sum that was millions of dollars higher than originally anticipated and a full 80 acres outside the city limits of Hollister in a rural area where Ruiz worries students will need a car to get to class.“Before we did any of this, we had no idea what it would cost to get property in Santa Clara County,” said Trustee Tom Breen, who also represents San Benito County, as he reflected on the difference between what the college expected to spend and what it actually spent. “That was the best estimate at the time.”Ruiz is concerned the new 80-acre site is located on the opposite side of town from Hollister's lowest income residents and that students from this part of town would be the least likely to be able to afford the car they need to get to class.“The luxury of having a car that I grew up with in the 50s is not a luxury any more that many young people can achieve,” Ruiz said. “In today's world, you are really penalizing the poor when you put facilities that are only auto-dependent.”While Gavilan purchased the properties several years ago, the topic is emerging again because this year marks the period in which all bond projects must be completed or at least started.Gavilan College serves southern Santa Clara County – including Gilroy, San Martin and Morgan Hill – plus all of San Benito County, according to the General Information page of the college's Tentative Budget for the Fiscal Year of 2014-15. San Benito County typically has higher unemployment and lower income as compared with other parts of the Gavilan College service area, according to the same document.“I ran (for trustee) primarily because of my concern on this one issue and I felt that the poor students on the bottom half of the economic ladder would not be considered in terms of their cost,” Ruiz said.Before purchasing the San Benito County property, school board trustees assessed 18 sites over about three years, rejecting properties because they did not meet state guidelines or it was a struggle to find two sites that had 80 acres all in one place, Kinsella said.“It didn't happen overnight,” Kinsella said. “Some people aren't happy and I'm sorry they're not, but I can't help that.”Kinsella pointed to strict state requirements and added that the cost and the size of the property also factored into purchasing decisions.Ruiz had hoped the site of the future San Benito County campus would be within walking distance from downtown Hollister. He is part of a Hollister Independent New Urban Research Center group, which looks closely at city growth across the nation. “Everywhere we look, we see that they're building community colleges in places where there's access to transportation, where students can ride their bikes, where they can walk,” Ruiz said.For now, the college has purchased the properties, but construction is delayed pending the mitigation of some environmental issues at both sites, Kinsella said. The bond also did not set aside money for construction at the satellite sites, meaning the college will have to find another source of funding for its new campuses.“The money that we had from the bond wasn't to do anything more than buy the land,” Kinsella said.A Citizens' Oversight Committee made up of community members, businessmen, students and taxpayers is charged with ensuring that revenue from Measure E is spent as promised in the language of the bond. The committee’s next meeting will include an update on Measure E activities and will be held at 6 p.m. Monday June 23 in the Student Center at Gavilan College.

After being named Morgan Hill Unified School District’s 2014 Teacher of the Year during the May 27 school board meeting, Britton Middle School’s Vincent Gutierrez will be honored—along with top educators from local districts throughout the county—at the 45th annual Teacher Recognition Ceremony.