March 31, 2006

Rising from the ashes

Gardner Academy back to full strength

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Gardner Academy has been likened to a phoenix rising from the ashes. That’s because the school that was nearly destroyed by an arson fire in 2003 has come back in a way that’s stronger than ever.

Fifth grader Devon Padella cuts the ribbon officially opening the school while Rich Garcia from Estrella Family Services and Principal Janice Hubbs look on and District employee Karen Fuqua takes a picture for posterity.

The neighborhood school lost paper, crayons, computers, 25,000 books in its library, some classrooms and its main administration building in the fire. Local students were bused to Galarza and Horace Mann as the fire department and police sifted through the damage.

“To see it [the fire] in its reality was so devastating,” said Principal Janice Hubbs at the dedication ceremony. “But out of it came such a wonderful thing for the community. It’s a special place for students and for teachers to learn. It will serve the district well for years to come and all of San Jose Unified will benefit.”

On March 9, the school and the San Jose Unified School District held a ribbon cutting ceremony. Students and teachers actually moved into the new building the last week of February.

Professional development
Today the school is not only new, but when school started last September, all but four teachers were also new. Gardner is now a professional development school with 22 classroom teachers, four resource teachers and two special education teachers.

In less than three years, Gardner Academy has gone from a burned-out shell (below) to a fully functioning school that is educating both children and teachers.

The school focuses on students with skill gaps to provide increased achievement in these students. The teachers collaborate with each other with plans to improve not only their students’ work but also their own. They watch each other, teach and provide feedback for each other which allows the teachers to improve their methods, and in turn improves the children’s ability to learn.

Many of the classrooms have observation rooms with two-way glass allowing teachers and student teachers to watch classes in session to determine better methods of working with the students. Among the little details built into the new school are separate offices for the teachers, just off the classroom to use for their own workroom, although some are shared.

It’s also proven that clean and attractive schools foster learning because it makes the students feel better about themselves. The new classrooms at Gardner sparkle and teaching aids are apparent from the floor to the ceiling. The second floor is designed specifically for teacher training. “It allows teachers to learn the strategy upstairs and implement it in classrooms downstairs,” said Hubbs.

All teachers receive an extra 17 days of staff development during the summer. This not only helps them with the new program, it also increases bonding among the teachers. This bonding is essential because it’s difficult to have someone watch a teacher and provide pro—and even more important—con feedback. The teachers have to suspend their egos and build trust and relationships to allow this bonding, said Hubbs.

“It’s awesome that our staff is willing to do this. Not everyone is open to feedback. You have to have a very positive attitude and a nurturing environment, but it must be totally structured,” said Hubbs, who has worked as a teacher and principal for SJUSD for 42 years.

Firemen saved the mosiac tiles with pre-Columbian designs that Gardner students, parents, administrators and the local Hispanic Kiwanis Club put together on Saturdays a number of years ago. Former Gardner Principal Elaine Farace, who is now principal at Willow Glen High School, reminisced about the detailed work and the fun everyone had working on the project.

The district is providing support through Mary Ann Rokovich, the director of the professional development special project. Applied Materials Corporation pays for the staff development and a group of dedicated substitutes, who are required to know and do everything the teaching staff does.

In addition, through a link with the Knight Foundation, Gardner’s on-site pre-school and Estrella Family Services will work to improve English language development.

Gardner School also is collaborating with two university programs. One of these is San Jose State University’s intern program of student teaching, where the student teachers will learn alongside Gardner’s newly taught teachers. The other is a tutoring program from Santa Clara University in which the college students work with Gardner students.
Other college student/school programs are in the planning stages. For example, Hubbs noted that sometime within the next 18 months, the school plans to work with UC Santa Cruz’s new teacher center.

A number of school district dignitaries were present for the ribbon cutting and grand opening. Besides former superintendent Dr. Linda Murray were police and firemen as well as the architects and PCM3 Construction that made the building possible. Dr. Murray was instrumental in ensuring the children were back in school immediately after the fire and in speeding construction of the new building.

A big crowd joined Gardner students and San Jose Unified School District officials as well as parents, police- and firemen and others at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the re-opening of Gardner Academy.

During the opening ceremonies, speeches were first given in English and then translated to Spanish. Students are learning both languages. One parent at the ceremony noted that her family did not speak Spanish at home, but her son is becoming bilingual, “thanks to the wonderful teachers at Gardner.”

The fire decimated the library destroying 25,000 books. But the new library, which can be accessed though all the hallways on the first floor, is in the center of the main building. “After the fire, most of the books were lost,” said Hubbs. “But now we have so many beautiful new books. We are currently in the process of getting other new books.”

Other new areas include a cafeteria, a fenced in pre-school playground with water and sand tables and eventually a larger parking area and traffic calming, said Hubbs.

Not surprisingly the children are very excited to be back at their school.

“This new building has a lot of room and it feels good to be back. I missed my school and everything was different when I had to go to Galarza,” said fifth grader Viridiana Ocompo.

“It wasn’t cool during the fire. We had to go to Galarza and they had different rules and not a lot of space. We have our school back now with nice classrooms and I’m happy to be here,” said fifth grader Rebeka Seleshi.

“We were shocked when the school burned down, especially because we heard it on the news. We had to take a bus to Galarza and they only allowed 15 to 20 kids on the playground during recess. So it’s much better to be back here. We don’t have as many rules and all of us can go out on the playground together,” said fifth grader Francisco Garcia.