Gilroy
– The district is toying with adding an extra period to the high
school day to reduce the number of athletes’ absences – at a cost
to the district of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Gilroy – The district is toying with adding an extra period to the high school day to reduce the number of athletes’ absences – at a cost to the district of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The optional extra class – referred to as “zero” or “A” period – would be offered prior to the start of the current schedule and would allow students to take classes they would normally take later in the day.
For athletes, taking physical education or another class in the morning could free up the last period of the school day, which is sometimes missed due to sporting events. Students could also take electives, which are generally regarded as less important to miss.
Students might also use the extra period to supplement their class load, which will drive up the high school budget, said James Maxwell, principal of Gilroy High School.
“It will cost me more money … because the kids will take seven classes instead of six,” he said.
The additional expense will come from hiring more teachers to cover the extra classes, which could prove difficult as the district’s budget is already tight.
Neither trustees, teachers nor high school administrators would estimate how much the cost to the district would run because it depends heavily on student interest.
If the high school instituted six new morning classes without eliminating afternoon classes, they would need to hire a new teacher at a cost of at least $42,588 plus medical benefits. Thus, if a quarter of the current high school students participated and had a choice of about 25 morning classes, the district would see a minimum price tag of almost $200,000. Hiring teachers with more experience or education could nearly double the price.
However, this cost has not eliminated the possibility of an early morning period, Trustee Rhoda Bress said.
“I think it’s an idea,” she said. “We need to consider all the options when we’re increasing academic rigor.”
This is an especially important time to tackle the crunch in classes as entrance requirements for colleges increase, said Mary Ann Boylan, assistant principal at the high school. Students who are college-bound are so busy satisfying these requirements that they cannot take electives, she added.
“That’s the flaw with the (current) six-period system,” Boylan said. “To remedy that, you can add a zero period and that will ease that tension.”
However, “it has to be something the students would have to agree to because they would have to get up early in the morning.”
Up With the Sun
Students are mixed on the addition of an extra period. While some students do not want to get up any earlier than they have to for the current 8am start, others see positives in the plan.
For Kenny Kretz, a high school senior and a member of the coed varsity badminton team, the early start could mean rescheduling his Advanced Placement economics course, which he takes last period and will miss portions of the class 10 times during the badminton season.
“If you miss a day, you miss a concept,” Kretz said.
The badminton team has 17 regular scheduled matches this spring, seven of which are away. As the team needs to leave about two hours early for away matches and at least a half hour early for home matches, members could miss more than 20 hours of academic instruction this semester.
For Kretz, the extra period would be an asset even outside of the badminton season.
Taking an early class, in addition to allowing him to take electives, “can lead to getting ahead and getting more of your credits finished,” he said.
Teachers Willing, But Not Ample
While many teachers and administrators support the idea of an extra class, much of its success comes down to the willingness of the teachers to take on the classes.
Finding willing teachers is not a problem, said Boylan.
“If we wanted to run a U.S. History zero period, provided the kids wanted to sign up, we could do that now,” she said.
The problem is not getting current teachers switch to early classes, agreed Michelle Nelson, president of the Gilroy Teachers Association. The issue is whether there would be enough teachers to cover the additional classes.
“We have had trouble attracting and retaining teachers in Gilroy,” she said. “Adding another period may exacerbate the problem we have now. We need to make sure we have a plan in place to attract and retain teachers before we change anything.”
Nothing regarding additional teachers or easing the conflict between athletics and academics will change until, at the very soonest, April 9, when the district Board of Trustees will host a working session on the topics.
That does not meant the board will not be thinking about the issues, Bress said.
“All the issues are on the table,” she said. “They’re not easy ones.”
Difficult as they might be, they are also important, Bress said.
“The value that we as a community put on classroom reflects on our values,” she said.
