Quick Take
Ian Hsu, a 2025 graduate of Aptos High School, says Pajaro Valley Unified School District must do more to invest in the high school and rebuild a culture of confidence, opportunity and support. Budget cuts, he writes, have slashed key programs and worsened morale, leaving teachers stretched thin and students unmotivated. His sister is a student there now and he fears she will get a worse education than he did.
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Aptos High School has an engagement problem.
I would know – I graduated this past spring. But now that I’m on the sidelines, I’ll watch my sister, now in her sophomore year, graduate at a school marginally worse than when I attended.
It is maddening to see the downfall of our education quality. I transferred mid-high school from a competitive Bay Area school to Aptos, going from one end of the high school academic spectrum to the other. At my former school, I encountered the grade sharks, extracurricular warriors and the tiger moms. During my year and a half at Aptos, I found the opposite – those who don’t interact with school at all.
I fear the situation is only going to worsen.
On campus, it’s extremely common to find students who either don’t play a sport, aren’t in clubs, avoid school events, or a mix of the three. And during my time, I didn’t see many of these students redirect their efforts to the classroom. In 2023, 43% of AHS students were below state standards in English, and over two-thirds were below standard in math. These numbers were down 9% and 5%, respectively, from the previous year.
This trend mirrors what I saw at school: dwindling engagement and motivation. This group of students isn’t locked out of these programs by intelligence, time or finances. They simply have a lack of confidence and support.
For one, students at Aptos High quietly understand Advanced Placement (AP) classes are reserved only for “top students.” Yet this is a misconception that reinforces a mindset that most students aren’t smart enough to attempt these classes, hence the 30% participation rate in AP classes. And with only six honors classes offered, students face a jarring transition from college prep to Advanced Placement classes. It’s a jump most students aren’t confident making, especially in an environment where students don’t apply themselves.
This culture creates a vicious cycle.
Absenteeism is also a problem. As a senior, I found it way easier to miss school to avoid busywork than to go to class and do it. I know I’m not alone – over a quarter of the school was labelled “chronically absent” by the California Department of Education last year. When students continue to miss school, grades, motivation and attendance all drop.
I’m a victim of this myself, with over a seventh of the year missed. Missing class on an important day meant I’d lose time making up work, and that made it harder to push myself to attend school.
Fewer students in class leads to less funding from the government, which builds up over time and leads to cuts. When the district cuts popular programs like video programming and science options – which Aptos recently did – students only continue to get caught in this snowball effect of demotivation and dwindling options.
We as a community watched this happen in March, when the district’s poor budgeting afflicted the school with huge cuts after the expiration of millions of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding. The district failed to spend the general funds before the deadline and the students suffered. Student programs like video production ultimately bit the bullet, with the shrapnel fragmenting to the students.
The reduction of classes places additional burden on the teachers to diversify and embellish student experiences. My teachers were my club advisors, sports coaches and are the ones taking time after school, lunches and weekends to ensure equitable education. But as the district pushes for maxed-out classes, teachers continue losing time to offer one-on-one support.
This is what made staff members like Principal Alison Hanks-Sloan (who was unwillingly removed from office, according to reports) so vital to the community.
For me and my peers, she and other staff took time and made an effort to talk to us and establish relationships where we felt understood. For me, teachers such as Ms. Burkhart, Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Domhoff all played a pivotal part in creating the comforting environment that I needed as a transfer student. My friends and teachers became my sole motivation to show up to school, and I know I’m not the only one.
But without these keystone educators in our community, attendance and motivation will continue to worsen.
The blame for the decline of our education standards can only confidently fall into the hands of our poorly budgeted district. Pajaro Valley Unified School District has no clear proposal to spend money on improving Aptos High School in its most recent three-year LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) budget plans. This is a mistake.
We as a community – and as current and former students – need to come together to advocate for the best education for our students at Aptos High.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District needs to work harder to find a solution to support every student. Whether through more classes, some sort of study hall meetings or an overhaul on school culture, the district needs to try harder to find a solution to help more students succeed.
My sister – and all Aptos High students – are worth it.
Ian Hsu is a graduate of the Aptos High School class of 2025, headed to UC Davis to study environmental engineering and political science.