By Kaya Perales,
Staff Writer.
When students are not on track to graduate (meaning they are missing at least five credits over the course of their high school career), they have a few options. Summer school may come to mind, but seniors who want to walk at the graduation ceremony need another route. Luckily, Cyber High, a credit recovery program, is available as an advised class during and after school, as well as an independent study. That was until an announcement came on during third period on Sept. 10, stating that Cyber High would be postponed until further notice.
To clarify, Cyber High is still available but only as an independent study, where students will check in with admin once a week to ensure their course progress. Those interested must sign up to Cyber High through their counselors.
While advised classes have been cut for the first semester, Santa Rosa High School obtained funding weeks after the postponement announcement. “As we understand it, there has been funding secured but the intention is not to start the after-school [Cyber High] until second semester,” said counselor Adam Derum, who has coordinated and monitored the program. The question now is of what effect this will have on students’ ability to recover missing credits.
Independent Cyber High allows students with a chaotic or otherwise full schedule to work on their own time. “Because I had a double period, I didn’t have a lot of extra time, so Cyber High was an easy way to make up those credits,” said recent SRHS graduate Gray Coleman. An independent study, however, puts complete responsibility on the student. Senior Jacob Miraflor recovered credits with summer school and a Santa Rosa Junior College class, but when his counselor signed him up for Cyber High, he never completed the course. “They said [Cyber High] would be better than summer school,” said Miraflor. He had his reasons for not completing but successfully made up credits only when held accountable by an adviser.
While not a problem for certain students, the lack of accountability leads to different results for everyone. “I think it depends on who you are and how your work ethic is,” said Miraflor. Students have various reasons for needing to make up credits and may benefit from being held accountable by an adviser.
Accountability leads to other issues. Senior Jase Biocca Lawson passed one of the independent courses but noted how easy it was to cheat, as there is no adviser getting paid to watch the students or assist confused students. “It would be better to have someone there to ask questions instead of Snapchat,” said Lawson.
Principal Dr. Mark Ryan stated that over 50% of seniors are not on track to graduate as of Sept. 18, but this situation is not new. “It was definitely more than half [seniors] that had at least five credits of deficiency,” said Ryan in reference to last year. The previously mentioned funding obtained for Cyber High won’t go into effect until next semester, leaving many seniors with waning options if they want to wear a cap and gown in June.
