Library hours have officially changed at Tracy High School. With the sudden decrease of hours, students are given less of an opportunity to do their work.

Library hours used to be from 7:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. four days a week, and from 7:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Fridays. This gave students, who do not have resources at home, the chance to keep up their grades. The new hours are from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Mondays, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. This is a drastic change that could heavily impact the lives of students.

Many students at Tracy High so not have resources, such as Internet or a quiet environment to study, at home. The longer library hours benefited them and showed them that the school does care about their circumstances. The new hours are a concern to many students because it takes even more resources away, and students no longer have ways to get their work done.

I feel like the school board is giving up on the students, this is not something that should be allowed to happen.

As most of the school work either needs to be typed or completely done on the computer, student’s grades will go down and the school’s grade point average will drop. This is extremely frustrating to the librarians at Tracy High as well; as they want to see students succeed, but know that they will be seeing a decline in achievement.

The school board should not make cuts where the students are involved, especially when it impacts them like this. If any cuts must be made, they should not be on a level that will have negative effects on the students.

Many may wonder; why can’t the students just go to the public library? The public library closes at 5 p.m. on most days, meaning that a student who participates in extracurricular, tutoring, or sports will only have a limited amount of time.

To prevent tainting Tracy High School’s student achievement, and to help students who are not privileged, the school board should change the library hours back to what they are.