Palo Alto Unified School District school board member Dana Tom cast the deciding vote Tuesday, Nov. 28, for a school calendar that will place finals after winter break for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years.

The board had been in disagreement and confusion regarding when finals should be for two weeks.

A district calendar committee earlier this semester presented a calendar, (Calendar A) which put finals before winter break. But after input from the community, the committee proposed an alternate (Calendar B), according to Lowell. The Teachers Association favored Calendar B by 60%.

However, Calendar B was not clearly favored by the board. Calendar A was initially proposed on Tuesday night by board member Gail Price.

But, no other board member seconded the motion to put it to a vote. Board member Barb Mitchell seconded, contingent upon the Palo Alto Educators Association researching the best place for finals. Price rejected the idea, and the motion failed.

The board was at a standstill until Board member Camille Townsend nominated adopting Calendar B for a two-year plan. In a complete turnaround, Board President Mandy Lowell seconded Calendar B, after adding a ‘friendly amendment’ to prevent arguments regarding finals in two-years when calendars are brought to School Board again.

"We vote on it [Townsend’s proposal] with an understanding that we will develop a process to make a decision on finals before or after break," Lowell said.

The vote was 3-2, passing Calendar B in a highly contested victory. Lowell, Townsend, and Tom voted for the motion, while Price and Mitchell opposed it.

"There isn’t a perfect calendar," Townsend said. "There are trade-offs."

Tom was initially inclined to vote for Calendar A because the school improvement plan for Gunn and Paly, as well as the Stressed Out Students Committee, recommended finals before winter break. Eighteen schools in California have switched finals to before winter break, and said they feel refreshed after the break, according to Tom.

According to Paly’s student board member, Peter Lo, all Paly student elected officials favored Calendar B, though two were not present during the polling. In a poll conducted by Lo on Facebook, a popular social-networking Web site, 100 freshmen, sophomores and juniors were polled and 43% wanted finals before winter break, 37% after, and 20% wanted to split the finals. Although the new calendar will not affect the seniors, Lo also polled 50 seniors, 40% of whom wanted finals before winter break, 37% after, and 20% wanted a split.

At Gunn High School, 81% of students favored finals after winter break, according to Gunn student board member Molly Kawahata.

Stress considerations have been raised regarding when placing finals. Arguments were presented that favored all sides, according to Mitchell.

‘This [calendar] will not solve all stress problems," Tom said. "We need to focus on what’s best on students."

In a survey administered to Paly students, 55% said they had too much stress, according to Mitchell.

"The discussion of how restructuring the calendar or modifying the instructional day might alleviate stress on out students is one worth beginning prior to the start of calendar process," Assistant Superintendent Scott Bowers said.