Senate to vote on altered calendar
The Academic Senate will vote on a proposed plan to alter the current class calendar on Oct. 10.
The senate members will choose between keeping the current calendar or adopting the new plan brought forth by the calendar committee for the 2009-10 school year. The new plan would add an extra week to the winter break while making the summer vacation one week shorter.
“We [present a plan] every year,” said Jeanne Smith, chair of the calendar committee. “After we vote, the district makes a final decision on it.”
Students at Saddleback and Irvine Valley College have mixed reactions on the issue at hand. For some the prospect of a long winter break isn’t that exciting.
“I’m Christian so I enjoy the family holidays during winter but I really don’t need a whole month off,” said Dawn Hotopp, 21, undecided. “I think it’s fine how it is now, plus I like to do a summer camp every year so if the change took place I wouldn’t be able to go.”
Other students would appreciate the longer break.”Yeah, why not change it?” said Alex Brooks, 21, sociology. “If you think about it, summer vacation lasts over a three month span and winter vacation is only three weeks. People could donate more time to their families which is rare in America today.”
One concern of the calendar committee is that by making the summer break 11 weeks long, students will not be able to attend both 6-week summer sessions. This not only affects students, but the college also loses money as students don’t register for those classes.
“Personally I like the accessibility to take both summer [sessions],” said Steven Mosley, 22, history. “I wouldn’t be able to add another course. A shorter summer would also mean more reading and testing in less time.”
The proposed calendar was designed to accomadate the needs of various summer classes.
“Some departments want to do field trips during the summer,” Smith said. “With the current calendar they can’t do that.”