By Jackson Whiteker
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After the recent fear of budget cuts, John Newton, vice principal and administrator in charge of summer school  made decisions regarding which classes would be offered this summer. The summer school program was one of the programs that was affected by the lower budget. Sophomore Kyann Rudd said she was put on the waiting list for summer school due to these cuts.

Despite the fact that the changes to the summer school program negatively affect Rudd, she still believes that they are reasonable. “As long as they have classes for students that need them not just to get ahead, then that’s okay,” Rudd said.

According to Newton, the changes to the program will be rather drastic. “The majority of the classes will be taken on the internet with the use of the computer-based program NovaNET. Also, we’re going to basically focus on those kids who need to catch up rather than get ahead,” Newton said.

Rudd said she thinks that this is a good thing for the summer school program. “I like the idea of it going online. Then we can access it anywhere. Like if we’re on vacation, it won’t be a problem,” Rudd said.

Newton said this is not the only part of the program that will change. “The classes will take less time. (Class will be) five weeks long, and each week is only going to be four days a week —Monday through Thursday. This will make the classes more difficult than last year. Whenever you have less time for a class, it gets more strenuous for the students,” Newton said.

Even though most summer classes were decreased due to the budget cuts, summer gym is a class still enrolling many students. Junior Aris Spenos said he plans to take the class this summer for his credit requirement. “I don’t have any gym credits, so I am just taking summer gym to graduate. It’s helpful that we have it,” Spenos said.

Despite the need to cut the school’s funds, Newton said he still believes summer school should continue being offered to all students. “Summer school is a vital piece of what we do. We like having it around,” Newton said, “I do think summer school is needed.”