With summer school scheduled to begin Monday, June 1, incoming freshmen will be the only group prohibited from enrolling in health, while distance learning will continue for both sessions, school officials said.

“With the [COVID-19] pandemic, we are limiting summer school [course] options this year,” assistant principal Hilda Arredondo said.

In past years, incoming freshmen were allowed to pick up a chromebook from the Lyceum when enrolled in health, a high school graduation requirement that is offered as an online course. But that will not be an option for them during any of the summer sessions as Fullerton Joint Union High School District superintendent Scott Scambray has yet to re-open any of the six campuses in the district.

“The freshman will have the opportunity to take this course next summer or before they graduate,” Arrendondo said. “All other courses are being offered like normal summer school.” 

That means any current students who have yet to fulfill their health requirement can still enroll in this course during summer school.

Another change from the last quarter of the spring semester will be the attendance policy.

“Teachers for each summer course will take attendance every hour,” Arrendondo said. “If students exceed eight hours of absences[in total], they will be dropped from the summer school roster.” 

During the spring semester distance learning period, most teachers set up Google Forms for attendance for each period, and school officials did not impose any consequences for students who had unexcused absences.

Those who have enrolled in summer school received an email from Arredondo earlier this week, reminding students that “summer school hours are from 7:45 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday-Thursday.”

At the end of the email, she writes, “Your teacher will communicate with you their classroom and academic expectations.”

The grading policy for both summer sessions will follow the same one adopted by the school board for distance learning, which means only A-C grades will be issued with students lower than 55 percent not receiving any credit.

Arredondo said Sunny Hills will continue to provide technical support for any summer school students who need WiFi access to the internet or headphones with mics. They just need to come to the main office to pick up any of these items.

Sophomore Caroline Kim has signed up for Drawing and Painting to fulfill her fine arts requirement but is concerned about the effectiveness of a distance learning environment.

“I feel that taking the class online may be more difficult to do than in person because we aren’t provided with the same supplies as we would probably have in class, and technical issues — that may be a challenge,” Kim said. “Students don’t have a teacher in front of them to help, and technical issues make it more difficult to communicate with the teacher online.”