Student government under time crunch this year

   For Granite Bay High School students involved in student government, the last few weeks leading up to Winter Break were possibly some of the most challenging and stressful weeks student leaders have experienced.
   “The difficulty was it was finals too,” GBHS student government teacher Tamara Givens said. “That plus Winter Ball made it overwhelming.
   “(Most of my students) either didn’t study very much or they didn’t sleep very much. I had several kids who pulled all-nighters.”
   During this time, GBHS students were under constant pressure – the late nights and early mornings were a consequence of the new calendar that GBHS and the Roseville Joint Union High School District adopted for the 2009-10 school year.
   This new calendar has hit student government harder than any other program at GBHS.
   “(During December), we had only two weeks to do what we normally take six weeks to do,” Givens said.
During those weeks, elections were held, interviews for the new class were completed, a new ASB cabinet was selected and class meetings took place.
   “I felt a lot more pressure,” said sophomore Kyle Pawlak, a student government member. “I was having trouble sleeping at times because I was stressed out about everything that was going on (like) how we were going to get everything done on time.”
   Pawlak said he and his peers were so stressed out because “(we) were worried (we) weren’t going to be able to get all (our) homework done on time, study for finals and be able to run a smooth event at the same time.”
   The new calendar made life for student government students very difficult and stressful even during the summer months back in July and August. Givens and her students, because of the new schedule were forced to come do their retreat in mid-July. This change impacted the so-called “sacred month of July” in which no students or teachers have to worry about school.
   Because of the difficulty of adapting to the new schedule, Givens said she would rather go back to the old schedule.   But not all students dreaded the July class retreat.
   “It’s actually a lot of fun,” Pawlak said. “It’s an interesting break from the rest of the summer.”
   While last summer’s retreat might have provided a nice break from the heat of mid-July, students were not near as thrilled for their spring-term retreat.
   “We had to do our class retreat for spring over Winter Break,” Givens said. “That impacted kids because Winter Break should be family time.”
   During the months of November and December, the major ASB events were Homecoming and Winter Ball.
   “Even with all the stuff going on, I would not go back to the old schedule,” Pawlak said. “Just having (finals) done was such a relief … it made it much more relaxing.”
   Student government will have to alter its programs next year in order to allow students more time to prepare events.
   “We’re thinking about maybe even cutting out a couple of events next year,” said Kimi Enneking, the senior class president.
   Whether this means Winter Ball, Homecoming or something else, events that students at GBHS have grown to love might have to go.
   So how did this change come about?
   In 1994, Woodcreek High adopted the early start calendar. Since then, the Timberwolves have never gone back.
   “I am sure it was tough to rearrange long-standing retreat timelines and the traditions of early or late-year dances and activities,” activities director Kim Bair said in an e-mail. “But at this point, we are all adjusted.”
   For a decade and a half, Woodcreek was on the early-start calendar.
   The faculty at the rest of the district’s schools, however, continued to vote for a late-start calendar – the district allows teachers to choose the calendar at each site.
   But a year ago, district officials, in the interest of reducing costs, decided there would only be one calendar for the district. Teachers narrowly chose the early-start calendar.
   Teachers have already voted for next year’s calendar, and the early-start option won by a much wider margin.
   GBHS math teacher Duane Blomquist said one of the goals for those who supported the early-start calendar was to be able to finish finals before the break, which would also result in the GBHS schedule more closely aligning with colleges. Also, Blomquist said, students will get a jump on summer jobs and will have an advantage over other students who are still in school.
   GBHS students and teachers have just now begun to experience the positive effects of the schedule and almost everyone is enjoying it.
   With this new schedule, GBHS starts two weeks earlier, in the beginning of August. To many students, this is the biggest disadvantage of the new calendar.
   But, because school starts so early, finals now finish before winter break and students will finish the school year in late May.
   Before this year, students were forced to go to winter vacation with finals and projects looming over them. Now, this year, students went to break with nothing to worry about and nothing to do for school. Finals were over and with it, the first semester.
   Immediately following winter break, students went back to a new semester and new classes. The second semester and the year will come to an end on May 27, a full two weeks earlier than last year.
   These two weeks will make up for the shortened summer students have been complaining about.
   But in the meantime, the greatest immediate benefit of the new calendar was perhaps the most relaxing and refreshing Winter Break students at GBHS have ever experienced.
   It was, Pawlak said, a “great bonus.”