College-bound seniors face time crunch with transcripts

BARSTOW • College-bound seniors will be waiting down to the wire to receive their final transcripts to get into college this year — because graduation falls so late in June.

Staff at Barstow High who put together year-end transcripts for over 300 students are slated to work until June 30. Graduation takes place June 24 this year and 12th-graders like Michael Curran are worried about getting their last grades sent off to their admitted colleges on time, according to Barstow High senior class counselor Michelle Lopez.

“That’s the thing they bring up,” said Lopez.

And the window of time between graduation and the deadline to finish transcripts has been shrinking, said registrar Lyn Monds. Last year, there were about two-and-a-half weeks after graduation, said Monds.

“That was very stressful,” she said. This year, staff has a week. “By starting school so late, that puts graduation later,” said Monds.

Curran, who plans to attend Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said he became concerned about getting his transcript after realizing that his college started early August and that there were early preview and orientation dates in the summer.

The district’s first day of school has wavered between starting before the Labor Day and after the holiday weekend, according to district officials. The date is negotiated between the district and the teacher’s union and classified union, and past considerations have included seeing whether first day attendance is higher after the holiday, said Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Jeff Malan.

According to head counselor Doug Kruse, elementary school staff has leaned towards a later school year start date while high school staff has wanted an earlier start — for reasons like this year’s crunch.

In order for senior transcripts to get completed, staff will have to plug in overtime hours, Kruse said.

“That’s the only way we can see that it will be done,” he said. “They’re going to get their transcripts — it just creates a time crunch for our staff.”

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