Parents of students at the Gabilan Hills Elementary School
announced they will file a formal complaint against the school
during the Hollister School District Board meeting Tuesday
night.
Parents of students at the Gabilan Hills Elementary School announced they will file a formal complaint against the school during the Hollister School District Board meeting Tuesday night.
“There has been a lot of positive changes at Gabilan Hills and we appreciate it, but we still have some concerns about the administration which is why we’ve chosen to file a uniformed complaint procedure,” parent Esperanza Moreno said.
The announcement came after about 10 parents met with HSD Superintendent Judith Barranti, Gabilan Hills Principal Diane Campbell, Vice Principal Jeanne Tutop, translators, teachers and HSD’s attorney Guy Bryant last week. The parents were angry about being banned from campus during school hours and upset with a yard duty supervisor they said was abusing their kids by shaking and screaming at them.
Barranti felt the meeting between the two sides went well when interviewed Tuesday morning.
“We’re all mutually trying to work on a resolution that works for all of us,” Barranti said. “They (parents) came with the spirit of ‘here are our concerns, how can we work with them?’ and it was in a positive tone.”
Since the meeting, parents have been allowed back on campus during lunch time this week and the yard duty supervisor who upset some parents is no longer working in the school yard.
The conflict between the parents and the school became public at an April HSD board meeting, when three mothers addressed the board about the abuse and racism they said was happening at Gabilan Hills.
Moreno said the yard duty had shaken kindergartners by the arms and that she has screamed at the children. In a prior interview, Moreno said, “there is a lot of abuse going on at that school and we don’t like it.”
Campbell explained the lunchtime lockdown was a necessary security measure because of an attempted kidnapping. In April, Campbell said “we had to close the campus because we needed to do what was necessary to protect our students, not because of the parents.”
Now, a month later, Campbell said the talks between the school and the parents have been helpful and she’s pleased to see both sides working together.
“It has been a good way of gathering information and making some positive changes here,” she said.
Campbell said it was her decision to remove the yard duty from the school, but she couldn’t comment further because it was a personnel issue. She did acknowledge the improvement in communication with parents now that concerns are voiced directly to her.
“Before, I was relying on communication through (the yard duty) and there were misunderstandings,” she said. “Hearing things direct has been a positive for the school.”
Moreno said the parents are happy they finally had the opportunity to be heard and glad yard duty is no longer working on the playground.
“We feel our voices have been heard and we finally had the chance to tell the principal how we feel,” she said.
In addition to removing the yard duty, Campbell took the parents’ concerns into consideration and has allowed them back on campus during lunchtime. The parents must sign in at the office and are encouraged to volunteer. Now, Gabilan Hills only has one paid yard duty supervisor and Campbell said it could use a few extra sets of eyes to help keep watch on the playground.
“It’s very helpful to have the parents volunteering,” she said.
Barranti said the district is working hard to help the parents and staff to work together and she’s confident about the overall outcome in the end.
“I think things are going in the right direction,” she said. “I’m just hoping it’s all for real.”
