Nearly 9,000 local students dragged themselves out of bed,
grabbed their backpacks and showed up at school with varying
degrees of enthusiasm for the first time this school year as bells
at both San Benito High School and Hollister School District
campuses rang to signify the beginning of the fall semester.
Nearly 9,000 local students dragged themselves out of bed, grabbed their backpacks and showed up at school with varying degrees of enthusiasm for the first time this school year as bells at both San Benito High School and Hollister School District campuses rang to signify the beginning of the fall semester.
“So far high school seems all right,” SBHS freshman Taylor Dankel said. “There are a lot more people and the teachers seem more interesting.”
Students at both HSD and SBHS arrived at school to many changes.
HSD is starting the year on decidedly more stable financial footing than last fall, when the district’s budget was so stark that state takeover was a real possibility, County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said at the time. Now the district is back in the black and looking forward to beginning several new programs for students, including all-day kindergarten, a first for HSD.
“I think that the community is really embracing it (all-day kindergarten),” Ladd Lane Principal Maxine Stewart-Carlson said. Stewart-Carlson formerly served as Ladd Lane’s vice principal and is taking the reins from Bob Hammond, who retired in June.
“Schools and school districts hold the community together,” she added. “And it helps to remember that this group of kindergarten students will be graduating from high school and contributing to this community one day.”
For their part, HSD students seemed excited about jumping back into the fray.
“I pretty much liked the teacher and the day,” first-grader Santino Brown said. “I’m looking forward to getting used to it and doing other things.”
And while a few tears are shed every year when students say goodbye to their parents for the first time, veteran parents also enjoy the changes a new school year brings.
“It’s been a wonderful however-many-hours they’ve been gone,” mother Stephanie Gross said.
SBHS students also arrived to a few surprises on their first day. Many were surprised and dismayed, for example, to find that the exterior student lockers had been torn out, a move SBHS officials announced during the summer as a measure to deter theft and vandalism.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with my stuff now,” senior Carly Brigantino said. “I guess I just won’t even take my books to class anymore.”
Educators are also piloting a new student schedule this year, which will ensure that students take the same number of classes each week, instead of alternating between “red” and “white” weeks as was done in the past. The schedule also introduces a 40-minute “advisory” or study hall period four times a week, for announcements, counseling appointments, tutorials and ASB activities.
“I actually like this new schedule because it evens out the classes you take every week,” junior Lizzy Gatto said. “I just have to get used to it.”
Teachers and staff expressed excitement at the opportunities a new school year brings, as well.
“Everyone today had a good attitude, and my attendance was great,” veteran social sciences teacher Chuck Schallhorn said. “And I didn’t hear anybody complain about having to be back in school, so that’s a great start.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
