An Earlier Schedule Leads to Missing Days for Fair for Some Students

Fortuna, CA

By Caitlin Garfield

The Humboldt County Fair is a very popular event that takes place in late August every year. The Fair Grounds are in Ferndale, California, and people from all over Northern California visit to see the interesting new attractions each year.

Members of local FFA and 4-H groups present animals and plants to judges and try to get awards. Most of these members are ages 19 and below, they attend school, which normally starts the week after the fair occurs. This year Fortuna Union High School started their school year the week before the County fair. Many members feel stressed about this and also have to miss school.

The advisors of the Fortuna FFA, Lindsey Kleiner and Hannah Lovfald, are both teachers at Fortuna High, they are busy at fair which lead to substitutes being hired by the school which costs the school money and creates a less efficient teaching environment.

When asked if she thought beginning school earlier was a good or bad thing, Kleiner stated, “I think it’s a cool idea to start early and have testing early too, but it does complicate things. Miss Lovfald and I have to stay at the fair to keep an eye on everyone’s animals while they are at school. People are also getting stressed about missing their zero period to come to our daily morning meetings.”

Mrs. Kleiner is very optimistic about this, and she is intrigued to see if the new schedule will improve the school’s outcome. After the week is over, the idea will have either been great or awful, and it is in the school’s hands to decide whether or not it should happen again next year.