Gilroy Unified School District is located in the southernmost tip of Santa Clara Valley, California. The Gilroy Unified School District was created in 1966 when several small school districts joined together with the Gilroy School District. The other school districts included San Ysidro and Rucker. GUSD covers an area of over 600 square miles, and averages between 10,000 and 11,000 students. The school district currently consists of four high schools (Gilroy High School, Christopher High School, Gilroy Early College Academy, and Mt. Madonna Continuation High School), three middle schools (Brownell, Solorsano, and South Valley), and seven elementary schools (El Roble, Eliot, Glen View, Las Animas, Luigi Aprea, Rod Kelley, and Rucker). The District also operates a pre-school program.