1st Wave of Students Heads Back to School for Summer

The beach is calling Shayna Johnson, but she’s not answering.

Opting for studying over suntanning, Shayna began summer school Monday at Ventura High School. While her friends hit the beach, the incoming freshman will be hitting the books so she can cross geography and health off the list of classes she needs to eventually graduate.

“I’m trying to get them out of the way for when the school year starts,” Shayna said.

Students in Ventura and Santa Paula started summer school Monday, the first wave of more than 15,000 students countywide who will return to the classroom to catch up or get ahead for fall. Classes start Wednesday in Fillmore, Thursday in the Conejo Valley and Simi Valley school districts, and June 25 in Ojai.

Oxnard Union High School District classes start July 9.

Summer School Has Seen Enrollment Boom

Monday was exhausting for Kris Bergstrom, Ventura Unified’s director of curriculum and instruction. There are more than twice as many elementary school students in summer school this year than ever before. Four years ago, 300 children took classes at one elementary school, she said. This year, 1,600 elementary school students are studying at 13 sites.

Bergstrom said the boom is a result of the state ending social promotion two years ago. Ventura Unified now sends all of its struggling students to summer school.

Oxnard Union interim Supt. Gary Davis is also seeing an increase related to the end of social promotion. Middle schools that feed into his district now require that all eighth-graders weak in math and language arts attend summer school in order to be promoted into high school.

Contributing to this, the high school district for the past three years has made summer school mandatory for students still learning the English language. Davis expects 6,000 students in all this summer, the largest group yet.

Summer Classes Free Up Time for Electives

Davis also said an increasing number of students are opting to take required classes during the summer to free up time during the school year to take electives in courses involving leadership, athletics or music.

“There is not a lot of room in a four-year schedule” for such electives, Davis said.

Shayna, 13, hopes to take advantage of the room she is making in her schedule by taking an art class in the fall.

Michael Palafox’s philosophy is study now, cruise later. The Ventura High junior is taking Algebra I this summer to lighten his load when he reaches his senior year.

“Rather than being at home watching TV, I’d rather be in the classroom. I’m looking out for the future,” said Michael, 16. “It will be a harder summer, but it will pay off in the end.”

40% of the Students Want to Get Ahead

Chris Taylor, who serves as summer school principal at Ventura High, said 40% of his students are there to get ahead in school. The other 60%, who are making up failed classes and unearned credits, aren’t as eager to attend. Yvette Gutierrez, 17, has to take classes at Ventura High this summer or she can’t graduate from Pacific High School next June.

“If I take summer school and do extra work I’ll graduate in time,” Yvette said. “If it’s going to help me to graduate, I’ll do whatever it takes.”

No matter what their motivation, students can find it tough to study their way through the summer months. Teachers, who also find themselves back in the classroom after a long year, can sympathize.

Ventura High geography instructor Joshua Koontz, in his third year of teaching summer school, lets his students use the last 15 minutes of class to do their homework.

“A lot of their friends aren’t in school, so it’s hard for them to say, ‘No, I can’t go out. I have to do homework for school,’ ” Koontz said.