Summer School Blues
Author:
Maria Orozco
Abel Flores is bummed he will not be able to go to
summer school. Abel, a junior at Aptos High School,
was planning to get economics and government classes
out of the way in order to have enough space for
college preparation courses his senior year. Yet Abel
quickly found out the harsh reality of budget strapped
schools in California; only students who have failed a
class or are on the verge of not graduating are
eligible for summer school at Pajaro Valley District
schools this year.
The summer school reductions have severely limited the
number of students who are able to attend summer
school this year. For many students, the inability to
attend summer school not only restricts them from many
activities they might be planning to do, but from
taking college preparatory course and shortening their
following year.
“I believe that many students, including myself, want
to get ahead and improve our GPAs and we should
therefore be allowed to attend summer school,” Abel
said. “I find this to be an unfair and unnecessary
decision, aimed to ruin and interfere with the
students’ plans for next year.”
Carolyne Gutierrez, another student from Aptos High
School, expresses her point of view on the issue in a
very different way. Although she is part of the group
of individuals who wanted to attend summer school, she
said it’s only fair to allow those students who are on
the verge of not graduating to be the first people
admitted to summer school. “If the budget cuts are the
only reason why many students are not going to be
allowed to attend summer school, than I wouldn’t mind
talking to the administration and formulating plan to
fundraise money for the school,” Carolyne said. “In
this way every student would be given the privilege to
attend school over the summer.”
The above issues are among the several concerns
students are dealing with: restriction from advancing
and the ability to change their schedules for next
year. Diane Burbank, the Aptos High School principal,
explains the situation as a political problem. “Last
year summer school wasn’t offered at Aptos High School
because of the construction going on in our school,”
Burbank said. “But this year it is because our
governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut the amount of
funding for the summer school program, and therefore
we must prioritize kids who are not on track to
graduate to be the first allowed to attend summer
school. I know this is not fair, but it is the best we
can do. If I have food, some for a starving person,
and some for one that was less needed, I will give the
biggest portion to the starving one. With the summer
school cuts, there is little room for advancement and
enrichment for students,” Burbank said.
Should summer school be offered only to those students
in risk of not graduating? Is this fair to those
students who are academically excelling, but are
planning to take summer school as a way to advance, or
simply get rid-off a few courses? Well, due to budget
cuts on schools this is no longer a question. This
choice has caused a great deal of uneasiness among
those individuals who were hoping to shorten their
schedule the following year by attending school over
the summer. Also, for students who received a D grade
in a class, they will not be able to increase the
grade through retaking the same class in summer
school. Some colleges will not accept credit for a
course with a D grade. No matter how you cut it,
budget cuts are getting in the way of students wanting
to advance their academic careers.