The Camas High School (CHS) 2023-2024 school year had a confusing start. With the teachers going on strike and losing school days, the question began to arise: When would these days be made up? A new calendar published by the Camas School District (CSD) reveals all the changes for the upcoming school year.
The first day of school was supposed to be on Aug. 28. However, due to the strike, school was postponed until Sept. 8. An additional seven days of the school year were added to make up for the strike, which ran from Aug. 28 to Sept. 6. The added days were taken from snow days first, then from Thanksgiving and Winter breaks. The full-day make-up days are Oct. 13, Dec. 18, Dec. 19, Feb. 16, and Mar. 8. The early release make-up days are Nov. 22 and Dec. 20.
Many wonder if these changes were the best solution to the problem, but not much else could be done to fix the issue of the number of school days. This year, students taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses face a challenge since the AP test dates will not change. Thus, the teachers and students will need to make up all the material that would have been covered in those initial few days.
“I would rather us lose some days in the summer than lose them in Winter break,” CHS student Shalaka Deshpande said, “Being in accelerated or AP classes, we lose more days to prepare rather than losing days after the exam.”
Deshpande is one of many students who will face this issue. Although the AP exam dates were moved later than last year, the time lost from the strike and delays in teaching course material from schedule adjustments will affect the amount of time students get to prep for the exam.
AP teachers had to replan lessons to compensate for the lost time, shifting material to wherever it could fit. After the strike, many students changed their schedules, switching in and out of different classes, making many teachers wait until new students funneled in to teach material. However, the consensus among AP teachers is that the changes improve student preparation for exams.
“I feel that taking away days from winter break will be better for AP students in the long run,” CHS AP teacher Jean Jarvis said, “Although it will be terrible during those few days, it does allow me to cover more material before the AP exam.”
Senior students are impacted differently, as their senior project deadlines have not been adjusted.
“I feel like information about senior projects should have been released earlier, especially the running start senior projects, so that requirements could be met,” CHS senior Jenna Harris said, “There’s definitely a layer of stress and inconvenience that could have been avoided.”
Seniors have a fixed graduation date that will not change, and passing senior projects is required by CHS to graduate. Many seniors agree that deadlines for the project should have been adjusted, as they lost an additional week to plan and begin to organize their project.
Students agree that while additional early releases give them a break from the stress of school, having full days rather than losing parts of holiday breaks would have been preferable.
“I don’t like that they took away vacation days. I understand the need to make up school, but early releases should have been taken away first,” CHS student Shelby Hanely said.
The current early release schedule allows staff to attend important meetings and train while allowing students the opportunity to destress and spend more time with their peers.
While not everyone agrees, most feel that the changes to the calendar are better than adding days to summer break.