Two ideas, one new and one old, have been incorporated into Cal High’s student support this year.
The introduction of school-wide student support lessons created by Cal staff and the return of student Den Reps are designed to improve communication on campus.
Student support lessons were created with the idea of spreading important information and messages to students and staff. Some of this information was already on the school website and sent to students’ emails, but too few students were reading the messages.
Administrators hope the student support lessons and Den Reps will alleviate that problem.
“Part of why we started these lessons is due to the messages that weren’t getting to everyone,” Principal Demetrius Ball said. “It was just a matter of coming up with the most effective way to make sure the majority of students and staff get these messages. That’s where this idea came from.”
By having the same structured slides projected in each class during a select tutorial period each month, the school hopes to get important information to more students.
“I just want us to get on the same page and make sure that everyone is getting the messages as much as possible.” Ball said.
Many students agree that these student support lessons do help them.
“These slides are very informative,” freshman Kylie Luong said. “They’re really helpful.”
Luong also finds lessons touching on campus awareness meaningful, such as the recent one that addressed Native American Heritage Month.
While these slides may help get students on the same page, some people do have some criticism.
Junior Samantha Damonte mentioned how these lessons cut into tutorial time.
“Tutorial time is helpful for people who need to get extra work finished,” Damonte said. “These slides are important, but it can be annoying when you have work to do but have to wait till the presentation is over.”
AP World and World History teacher Katie Alexander agrees.
“The structured student support bothers me because students can’t move until we finish,” Alexander said. “If we have retakes for a student who needs to make up a test, tutorial is the time we have to make it up. So, it’s not fair to students or staff that there’s not much flexibility on those days.”
Alexander mentioned that teachers do have a solution to this problem.
“A lot of teachers would like to see structured student support used in a slightly different way,” Alexander said. “Similar to den reps, they would like more flexibility where they can choose to do the slides on different days or push it into class. And some teachers would like those slides to be used for social-emotional learning time.”
Ball has heard the concerns teachers have but said that there are set dates for these lessons that are provided in advance.
“I understand the perspective of lessons cutting into tutorial time, and yes it is cutting into that time, but I think that we’re providing enough leeway,” Ball said. “We have set dates on the calendar so hopefully it’s enough time for our teachers to plan for that.”
These lessons are set to take place on the last or second-to-last Thursday of each month. Ball also explained the amount of time these lessons take can vary from 10 minutes to the entire 30 minutes.
Another administration-run program now scheduled for tutorial is Den Reps, which is an older program that is being brought back after a couple year absence.
Each first period class selects two students, or den reps, who attend a monthly meeting and then relay that information to the class through a structured presentation.
“We didn’t do Den Reps [earlier] because it was a matter of me as a principal and the admin team understanding what we wanted to do and what we had the capacity to do,” Ball said. “It just took a little time to figure out what the best way to go about it was, because if we did do den reps, we didn’t want to half do it. ”
But now that the admin has figured out what it wants to do, Den Reps are back in action.
“Admin are really enthusiastic about hearing our voices and really want to know what the kids are saying,” sophomore Den Rep Sarika Angadi said. “They encourage us to talk during the meetings and bring whatever insights we can.”
Ball said the school has a clear goal for Den Reps.
“The whole purpose is to provide more students a voice in what goes on in their experience here on campus,” Ball said.
That’s something many students agree with, including sophomore Den Rep Nathan Clemente.
“I think this system works,” Clemente said. “Before Den Reps, there were a lot of problems that students would be complaining about but didn’t have anybody to tell. We’re like a bridge between the students and admin, so we can let admin know what issues students have about certain things.”
Ultimately, administrators say they strives to do what’s best for students, whether that means designating times of the month for school-wide lessons or hearing the voices of students.
Students and teachers seem to agree these additions both should have a positive impact.
“They are good ways to get students connected, because not everybody has social media, so it’s good to make sure that they’re getting the information at school,” Alexander said.