Morgan Hill Unified School District trustees should keep an open mind as discussions concerning opening an elementary charter school bob to the public surface.
A group of parents has engaged the co-founders of the wildly successful Gilroy Prep School and began discussions about possibly bringing the model to Morgan Hill.
Two former teachers are the co-founders behind the Gilroy charter school, James Dent and Sharon Waller. Their philosophy combines using technology as an effective teaching tool, grouping children based on academic level for effective instruction, a school day that reaches to 4 p.m. and classroom methods that keep all the children engaged.
There’s more, but that core philosophy,  combined with the demonstrated success at Gilroy Prep, should really pique the interest of trustees and parents.
There will be naysayers, of course, who will stand for the almighty status quo.
But the message carried by those who would began Morgan Hill Prep in 2014 is that there’s far more potential for Morgan Hill students than simply measuring up to the mediocre status quo.
Gilroy Prep’s test numbers are absolutely remarkable. The overall score for the first through third grade school, which will expand year-by-year to eighth grade, hit 978 – marking the highest-performing first-year charter in the state of California since 2006. And these are hardly cherry-picked students. The percentage of English Language Learners is high and special education students are “mainstreamed” into classrooms.
As community discussions ensue, more parents will began to become engaged and participate. Important questions will be asked, and as they are, we urge trustees to listen – to parents and to those who are bringing innovative ideas to education and turning those ideas into success.
Hopefully, the end result will be a healthy discussion which ends with a good outcome for students.

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