Trying to beat the bell, senior Xander Gonzales rushed to his advisory class with math teacher, José Romo. Making it to class just after the bell rang, he was counted tardy. Sparing what little time he had to get a tardy slip.
“To be honest, I don’t think that the advisory class should exist,” Xander said. “People I know don’t do anything in their class.”
Advisory classes are a new addition for students who have been here for the past few years. The class is right after the 3rd or 7th period.
“I did think that last year’s schedule was better than this year’s because I was able to go to my classes and get my work done,” senior Alina Chavarria said.
Classes vary from student to student. Some students have College Prep classes, others have musical theater classes.
“I can just use my advisory class as a study hall, it doesn’t really have a structure to it,” senior Angel Rivas said. “It doesn’t really make a difference for me because it is just 30 minutes, I can’t really get into it.”
Students were given a survey last spring to choose which class they would like for advisory the following year.
“Some kids really are doing things who did good on their SAT’s who are in mediation advisories, stuff like that,” Alina said. “They gave us a whole list of stuff we would like in our advisory classes just so we would be put in things that we didn’t pick in that survey.”
In advisory classes, a handful of students don’t do anything in class. These classes are often called study hall. They are just on their phone the whole time or catching up on some small assignments.
“If I could change my advisory class, I would like to do something with Weaver so I could get some more choir practice,” Xander said.
These classes can be helpful for some students “if they are in the right class for them,” Alina said.
“I would say it could be helpful if you could sort out organizations that you need to be in,” Angel said. “Because I know some people are in advisories with their AP teachers to prep for the test.”
Back in the 2021- 2022 school year, the schedule had an advisory class. It was every Wednesday for 20 minutes. Most students were doing Khan Acadamy for PSAT or SAT prep.
“I think that advisory could have been once a week like sophomore year because it gave them time to prepare for something to do in that class,” Angel said. “It gave it some structure. I don’t see the benefit of the classes just yet.”
For the students that must go to CCTE, they don’t have an advisory class. They aren’t on the roster, so they only have one advisory class every other day.
“All it did was cut into my lunch when I have CCTE. I’m not the biggest fan of advisory classes,” Angel said. “But I do take advantage of the time I have in there.”
Advisory classes made the school day longer and students’ lunches shorter. The school day ends at 4:10 p.m which added 15 minutes from the previous schedule.
“Two lunches were better because I wouldn’t feel like there was so much work if I had my 20 minutes each day, which I don’t even have,” Angel said.
