Editor’s note: Per Principal Dr. Steve Hankins, the decision on Flex Time may not be finalized Friday, Oct. 18, due to new options still being discussed. If a decision is not made Friday, there will not be an announcement sent out Monday, Oct. 21.

As the clock ticked to 4 p.m. yesterday, Oct. 16, Alex Chen, freshman, clicked “publish” on change.org, where he created a petition for students to sign to advocate for Flex Time. 

Recently, the administration learned that Flex Time does not count toward the state required Carnegie minutes, 7,830 minutes required for high school students to be in the classroom in order to receive their credits. 

The administration is still weighing their options to solve this problem; however, a possible solution for next semester was proposed that would eliminate Flex Time during A days and shorten Flex Time on C days to an hour and a half with lunch during fourth hour as it currently is during Late Starts. 

“They’re not gonna do this to me and we’re not going to go down without a fight,” Chen said. 

Chen said he first learned of the possible change from his teachers earlier this week. 

Some students who signed the petition, which had more than 240 signatures as of 2 p.m. this afternoon, plan to present their case for Flex Time to the district administration at the Board of Education (BOE) meeting 7 p.m. tonight at the Annex in Eureka.

Emily Thompson, French teacher, was one of the teachers who informed her students of the proposed changes and encouraged them to attend the BOE meeting in order to have their voices heard. 

“I think it’s good to go to the meeting, not only to voice your opinion, but to learn about what’s going on,” Thompson said. 

She said when she found out about the changes, she was disappointed because Flex Time allows students to take charge of their own time and engage with the community.

While Thompson is excited to hear students voice their ideas at meetings, she said students should be aware of their environment. 

“[Students] need to be aware of the impact that their voices have and that it’s not going to instantly solve the problem,” Thompson said.  

The petition presents students’ proposals for alternative solutions to meet the required minutes, such as getting rid of some Late Start days, implementing a homeroom during Flex to account as “classroom time” or instead keeping three A days with Flex Time rather than the C day Flex Time. 

Principal Dr. Steve Hankins said getting rid of Late Start days would not be possible due to scheduling and allotted time for teacher professional development. 

He said the decisions on Flex Time will be finalized tomorrow and communicated to students and parents on Monday, Oct. 21.