By Risha Rohera
Theme Editor
Students were at a loss during the first few weeks of the school year when they were told that their clubs could not meet until the Teachers’ Union and District negotiations was over. Teachers across the campus closed their doors to clubs who needed a place to meet with a teacher adviser.
Negotiations reached a tentative agreement on Sept. 6, enabling clubs to use teachers’ rooms the next week. Before they reached an agreement, however, new club presidents worked during the summer to bring their club ideas to Costa, while others were hoping to continue to meet on campus during the school year. Either way, students did not know what to do when teachers would not avail their rooms.
“I’m not sure what we would have done if there weren’t any teachers available [to advise], considering that now it doesn’t affect us,” sophomore Sophie Haas-Goldberg, Co-president of the Mira Costa Tribe Club said. “We had been working on our club since the end of school last year.”
Freshmen and new students who wanted to explore and join clubs were forced to wait until negotiations were over. Before school started, Costa freshman, Priya Chatwani, looked through and chose the clubs she wanted to attend, but was ultimately disappointed by the delay.
“The wide range of opportunities offered through clubs was definitely one of the [reasons I chose to attend Costa],” Chatwani said. “I asked people about clubs, and my friends and I planned to attend certain clubs together. You could say that I was extremely disappointed to learn that these clubs were not even offered yet.”
Due to large numbers of club members, some clubs that hoped to continue meeting from last year were unable to gather all of their members to meet outside of school. These groups found other ways to carry on their activities.
“The officers in our club have been communicating with the club members through our Facebook group,” senior H2O for Life Club president Abha Nath said. “[Here] we discuss upcoming events, collaborate on fundraisers and share the progress of the wells that we have built in the past years.”
Tentative plans to meet were also created by clubs in order to carry on their activities without a room. One such club, Friendship Circle, found a way to meet without relying on their previous room.
“The club met in the quad directly outside the special education room where we normally hold our meetings,” senior Co-president Nicole Rosen said. “We are also tried to hold meetings on the football field because our Friendship Circle kids absolutely love playing various sports during lunch.”
Despite the negotiations, some clubs remained unaffected. This included Young Democrats club, which was scheduled to start meeting on the third week of school. The teacher adviser for this club, Bill Fauver, gave consent to use his classroom on Monday, Sept. 10 after the teachers came to a tentative agreement for the negotiations.
Community service clubs such as S-Club already performed many activities outside of the Costa campus and was also not as affected. Some activities that they have participated in over the past few years include Lunches With Love and Relay for Life.
“Since S-Club is mainly focused on community service outside of school, it was barely affected by teacher negotiations,” sophomore club member Reilly Edmonds said. “We were able to communicate through Facebook, allowing us to operate without being victims of the negotiations.”
Most clubs resumed the week of Sept. 10. Club council meetings, held by Activities Director, Lisa Claypoole, for club presidents and new club representatives, took place on Sept. 6 and Sept. 11. Club information for the school year was given at this meeting.
“I’m happy that I’m able to sponsor my club, Teens Against Domestic Violence, [again],” teacher adviser Nancy Geczi said. “I hope that students realize that we teachers sponsor clubs on our own free time, and I hope that they appreciate it.”
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