This year, Costa administration has released a new senior schedule, adding three mandatory events on Jun. 9, 10, and 11. While the school hasn’t clarified how it will enforce this “mandatory” attendance, the word is featured prominently on the official newsletter and school website. It’s hard to not see this as a rushed attempt to squeeze a few extra days out of seniors.
The first of these events, a senior meeting in the auditorium on Jun. 9 from 9:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M., replaces a longstanding tradition of holding the meeting on the last day of senior finals. That old plan made sense since all seniors were already present on campus. Now, instead of using a moment when everyone’s naturally together, the school expects students to show up for what feels like a filler event.
On Jun. 10, there is a senior breakfast and yearbook signing in the Admin Quad. While the idea sounds festive, it ignores a simple fact: not all seniors buy yearbooks. Does the school plan to buy yearbooks for those who do not have the intent and/or means to buy one? Do they plan to buy a yearbook for every senior? If so, nobody has been informed. Forcing attendance at an event that many can’t fully participate in is not just tone-deaf, it’s exclusionary.
Finally, on Jun. 11, the school is hosting graduation practice, a BBQ, and ticket pickup from 12:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. While this day includes essential tasks, it raises the same question: Why change the schedule now?
If this is about attendance, the effort is misdirected. Senior attendance issues are real, but adding more events in June (well past the second semester cutoff for Average Daily Attendance calculations) won’t help anyone. It’s too late in the year to pretend that padded schedules will fix deeper problems.
These new additions offer no real value to students or staff. Instead, they overcomplicate an established schedule that was already working and provide unnecessary stress to many students. Seniors should be wrapping up their high school experience with clarity and respect, not with last-minute mandates that feel more like control than celebration.
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