For the first time, students at San Benito High School will
enjoy their two-week winter break sans studying for finals.
This year, SBHS administrators changed the calendar, ending the
first semester before winter break instead of in late January. The
change leaves the first semester 79 days long with the second
semester 101 days long.
For the first time, students at San Benito High School will enjoy their two-week winter break sans studying for finals.
This year, SBHS administrators changed the calendar, ending the first semester before winter break instead of in late January. The change leaves the first semester 79 days long with the second semester 101 days long.
The change is getting mixed reviews from students and teachers, although most supported the idea last school year.
“I think it was too short. It didn’t give us enough time to prepare for everything,” senior Anthony Pulliam said about the first semester. “I feel kind of ripped off, like I didn’t learn as much as I could have.”
Benefits of the switch include having a study-free winter break, starting anew in January and allowing students who travel over winter break, especially those who visit their native countries, to not miss finals, which are usually a week or two after students return in January.
To help the shortness of the semester, administrators instituted an academic focus week from Dec. 10 to 16 with finals Dec. 17 to 19. During this week, no extracurricular activities were held so students could focus on their academics, Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said.
Since some teachers rely on plays or dances to serve as a final, they had to work around the academic focus week.
“If students are practicing until 10 p.m. at night, they can’t focus on their finals,” Slater said.
Teachers who teach only semester-long classes also had to adjust their curriculum to fit into the shorter semester. Courses most effected were human biology and earth science – each is one semester long and taught during freshman year.
“Teachers had to prioritize – they had to really hustle up. Next semester, they’ll be able to elongate and re-emphasize certain areas,” Slater said.
Art teacher John Robrock was grading finals Tuesday and said he favored the semester ending at winter break.
“I thought it worked out fine. Sometimes, you lose your momentum over vacations,” he said. “It’s easier to start fresh when you come back.”
Robrock divided his classes into drawing first semester and painting second semester.
While the students enjoy less studying and stress during the holiday, some teachers may be stuck grading finals over part of their two week vacation. But, having the shorter first semester was favored by both groups.
Slater said she worries about grades being due after winter break which may encroach upon teacher breaks and the less time students will have to catch up since some use winter break to catch up or get ahead in their classes.
A survey distributed to students and staff in April by Slater asked for input. Both groups overwhelmingly supported ending the first semester in December – of 108 staff votes, 67.6 percent favored the change and of 914 students, 75 percent also favored the switch.
Junior Mary Von Urff has mixed emotions about the end of the first semester.
“It’s good that we don’t have to worry about anything over the break, but everything was rushed,” she said. “And I’m worried next semester is going to last forever.”
Having a longer second semester can serve as a benefit because of state and federal testing in the spring. The state’s Standardized Testing and Reporting, Golden State Exams and California High School Exit Exam as well as federal tests like the Advanced Placement Exams take up one to two weeks of class time in the spring which would help even out the difference in days between the semesters, Slater said.
Also, vision and hearing screenings have been moved to second semester.
“Everything we could we moved to the second semester because we have more time,” Slater said.
Administrators and trustees are currently considering proposals for next school year’s calendar.
