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With almost two hours worth of speeches by more than 20 parents, staff, alumni and even a teacher from a different school district arguing for opposite sides of the issue, it did not seem surprising that the board decided to delay a vote on the 2012-13 schedule. The district’s newest proposed 2012-13 calendar incorporates finals before winter break at the cost of uneven semester lengths and a late start to winter break.
The rollover calendar approved by the board remains almost identical to that of the current year and met a smooth approval process. This, however, was about all the board could agree upon.
On one side of the 2012-13 calendar debate, newly re-elected Board of Education Vice President Camille Townsend expressed support for delaying the vote indefinitely until more information, specifically from teachers who teach semester-length courses, could be collected.
“We haven’t heard from everybody, as we haven’t heard from teachers with uneven semesters,” Townsend said. “What are the ramifications for those teachers?”
Based on the meeting’s agenda, the school board was not required to vote for the 2012-13 calendar.
Board Member Barbara Mitchell agreed with Townsend, asking the Calendar Committee headed by Assistant Supt. Scott Bowers, for more scientific studies to accurately conduct a cost-benefit analysis for uneven semesters. First semester lengths could vary between 77 to 83 days, while second semester lengths could vary between 97 to 103 days.
“I’m going to need to understand the trade-offs and acceptable variances in semester lengths,” Mitchell said. “How will we protect the quality, vitality and breadth of our high school offerings?”
Townsend reiterated her position after listening to the public’s feedback on the pre-break finals calendar in her closing statements.
“I’m nowhere near recommending a pilot [program for the proposed schedule],” Townsend said. “I don’t have the information to even suggest that there is a pilot.”
Townsend cited the late start of winter break included in the proposed pre-break finals schedule as another contentious issue.
“Castilleja, Dec 17; Menlo, Dec 17; St. Francis, Dec 17; Homestead, Dec 17. I can go on and on,” Townsend read, comparing nearby schools’ last day of school before winter break with the Calendar Committee’s proposed last day of school on Dec. 23.
“This tells us that these schools don’t end their finals after Dec. 20 because they have recognized that students use that time to travel,” Townsend said.
Standing opposite Townsend were Board Member Dana Tom and Supt. Kevin Skelly, who both highlighted avoiding the long and drawn out effort that the schedule approval process could become.
“One of the issues I think we should really pursue is how much time do you want the staff to devote to this,” Skelly asked early on in the meeting. “My strong preference, and I will be disappointed to do it, but my strong preference is for you to consider the possibility of saying, ‘Let’s have a rollover calendar for the next couple of years,’ and moving on to a lot of more important things.”
Skelly’s main concern was that the discussion over the calendar could dominate the discussion among the board at the risk of pushing aside other important projects that may arise.
“There are a lot more important things to do than debating whether kids should take finals before break,” Skelly finished to a round of applause from the audience.
Tom emphasized remembering that the calendar itself was just one part of a multi-pronged process geared towards reducing student stress.
“I think this is one method for reducing stress [and] not the only method,” Tom said, “but the fact that there are other methods for reducing stress does not negate the value of this method.”
The meeting broke convention as the board opened up the floor to the public after the Board members’ own initial discussion over the 2012-13 schedule.
Right off the bat, two Advanced Placement teachers at Henry M. Gunn High School argued for a pre-break final.
Diane Gleason, who teaches AP courses in math at Gunn, explained that starting school two weeks earlier in August would give teachers more time to teach the material at an easier pace for students.
Her colleague, Charles Castleman, who teaches an AP Biology course, told the board how his students, without prompting, had pleaded for a final before the break.
“About a week and a half ago, one of my students asked, without any prompting, if we could have finals before break,” Castleman explained. “Before I could even open my mouth, they all emphatically said they wanted the final in December.”
But not all the teachers present were in agreement. Christy Heaton, a social studies teacher and Department Chairperson at Homestead who teaches semester-length classes, gave a compelling speech against pre-break finals, saying that her senior students were under too much pressure in December because of college applications and strong academic workloads.
“The amount of stress that the students are under is incredible. I teach 130 students every year,” Heaton, who is a Paly alumna, explained. “They are self-destructing as we speak. I wish my district had made the decision to move finals after an assignment-free vacation.”
Numerous parents also anecdotally pointed out how finals before the break would increase stress in seniors dealing with college applications and cause numerous problems for students involved in performing arts across the Bay Area. Their concerns prompted newly-elected Board of Education President Melissa Baten-Caswell to address those issues in her closing remarks.
“I think we need to have a structure that really works with college applications,” Caswell stressed. “I [also] think it’s valid to have some policy for performing arts kids.”
Yet other parents utilized data and research on 54 of the 61 schools in the San Mateo and Santa Clara Unified School Districts compiled by the Palo Alto School District Student Health Awareness Committee to develop an argument in favor of a pre-break final schedule. People who held the same view included Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s manager of Health Education Becky Beacom, who specifically pointed out the positive impact a pre-finals schedule was having on other school systems. The Student Health Awareness Committee has come out before in strong support of this year’s current block schedule and later morning start times.
Paly senior and School Board Representative Pierre Bourbonnais expressed several concerns about finals before winter break, arguing that it would put too much stress on seniors who are already stressed from the college application process.
“In the end, I’m not sure if the calendar would reduce stress or simply shift it,” he said. “I feel like we’re trying to cram everything into first semester.”
With all of the back-and-forth discussion, the Board concluded by emphasizing the need for more open communication between the Calendar Committee, the Board and the public in order to produce a proposal that incorporated more community feedback.
“Whatever comes back to the Board has to be more of a report made out of trade-offs and considerations for whatever proposal comes forward,” Board Member Barbara Klausner said. “This is clearly not a black and white issue.”