Pursuing efficiency and consistency in the form of expertise, Dulaney’s administration has enacted changes to the class council student-advisor system.
Previously, two teachers were assigned to a class freshman year and remained the class’s advisors for the entirety of their high school duration. The newly implemented change selects a specific teacher to each grade level, meaning that each year a class will have new class council advisors. The student elected class council plans, arranges and fundraises events such as Homecoming and prom. Advisors assist officers to ensure safety and efficiency.
The rationale for the change was to keep experts in charge of certain events, especially senior activities.
“Mr. Velten, Ms. Heaps—they know how to do senior barbecue, senior breakfast, senior prom, graduation. So, let them stay doing the same thing,” Student Government Organization and freshman advisor Stacy Reynolds said.
Senior advisor Rene Heaps corroborates the rationale and eagerly supports the new change, looking forward to working with a new group of students for the school year.
“It just creates consistency and uniformity, so everything gets to be done a little bit better. I’m excited about it. I don’t really know the junior class coming up, so it’ll be fun to work with a new group,” Heaps said.
Despite reservations about the new change, the potential benefits are being noticed by advisors and class council members alike.
“A bad thing is that you lack a strong relationship with the other class; you are unable to see officers progress and grow,” sophomore advisor Abby Fair said. “One good thing is that the class advisors are able to have relationships with outsiders, such as the sellers of rings for the ring dance.”
After seeing all the work that went behind senior barbecue and breakfast, junior class president Carmen Roy agrees with the changes.
“I like that we will receive Velten and Heaps because senior year is a lot [of work], and we need experience.”
The most significant downfall of the new change is the lost bond between advisors and students that was evident in the previous system. Some students feel that having a new advisor each year negates the relationship they have built with their current advisor.
“I really don’t like [the change] because I really like Mrs. Fair and Sofinowski and our relationship,” sophomore President Jenna Walsh said.
Still, because the system is still in an infantile stage—people believe it is premature to definitively label it a success or failure.
“It also hasn’t been too long with this new system,” Fair said.
Some positives and negatives are seen, but junior class advisor Alyson Klein doesn’t believe it will be a major change.
“It’s hard to tell. I don’t think [the change] will be huge,” said Klein.