‘Twas the Saturday before school starts, and all through the
land, teachers were rushing to finish every last project
planned.
‘Twas the Saturday before school starts, and all through the land, teachers were rushing to finish every last project planned.
School kids were trying on clothes for the season, and high school student Vanessa Hernandez is ready to start back up for one reason.
“Football,” she said while giggling. ” And football players.”
Hernandez and more than 8,900 other students countywide, will hear the familiar sound of the school bell Monday morning. Her school, San Benito High School, along with many others in the county, will be going through some changes in construction and classroom environment this year.
While SBHS administrators are thrilled to have the school’s new side of campus, with 28 new classrooms complete, San Juan School has spent the summer figuring out where to house its students while its campus gets a facelift.
“We’ve been doing a lot of shifting around, so everyone is relocated and set to go for Monday, however it still looks chaotic,” Principal Joe Hudson said.
San Juan School is in the process of building a new sixth-grade classroom and gutting the administration building. Construction worries aren’t one of Hollister School District’s concerns, but some of its teachers are nervous about the district’s jump in class size. During budget cuts last June, HSD decided to raise fourth-grade through eighth-grade class sizes to 35 students to one teacher.
“With that many, it’s difficult to give a quality education to each student,” Jennifer Miller, a fifth-grade teacher at Gabilan Hills, said.
Elementary school teachers may be concerned about the high numbers, but Jack Bachofer, who teaches math at Rancho San Justo Middle School, said the new ratio is going to be a “piece of cake.”
“I was expecting 35 students, and I’ve only got an average of 30,” he said.
Of all the grade levels in HSD seeing a jump in student numbers, kindergarten will be hit the hardest, according to teachers.
“I’m very unsettled about it,” Colleen Myers said. “It’s not fair. This is their first time in school and that’s already a huge adjustment for them.”
Myers, who teaches kindergarten at Gabilan Hills, is talking about the new kindergarten schedule, which fluctuates the class size between 16 students during reading and math, and 32 during social studies, fine arts, science and physical education. During the time period when there are 32 students in the room, teachers will have an aide on hand for help. But Myers said, it will be a struggle to give each student the attention they deserve.
“I just don’t want them to miss out,” she said. “Kindergarten can be such a magical place for these kids.”
While HSD and other school districts make adjustments and get through their first day of class Monday, Southside School administrators and students will still be relaxing on summer vacation. Classes begin Tuesday instead, and fifth-grade and sixth-grade teacher Dena Gregory hopes her students are watching the Olympics.
“With that going on, I decided to flip flop out schedules and study ancient Greece first, and follow the games,” she said.
