Changing the Gilroy Unified School District schedule so that, in particular, final exams at Gilroy High School (and Christopher High School eventually) could be held before the Christmas/winter break makes so much common sense it's hard to believe it's taken so long for GUSD to make the switch.

We can hardly stand the suspense generated by a full committee review ordered by trustees, and can only hope that the entire exploration is based on one, and only one, concept: What's best for student academic achievement?

2. Everything on Gilroy's academic calendar should be scrutinized

The calendar would have to move back so that school started earlier, but how far and why are key questions. Everything on the calendar should be scrutinized so that the change can be institutionalized for student benefit. Are there staff development days (like the one scheduled for Halloween Oct. 31 this year) that should be moved to the beginning or end of the school year or eliminated? Are there extended holidays that are staff-oriented as opposed to student-oriented? What about minimum days? Those put quite a bit of pressure on instructional time as currently scheduled.

There are serious questions to be posed like: Does GUSD really need two days, Nov. 10 and 11, off for Veterans Day? And is a full week off for "President's Day" from Feb. 16 through the 20th necessary or educationally sound? After all, just six weeks prior to that school is out for two weeks for Christmas/winter break.

3. If schedule discipline and cultural change is in order, let's get it done

Trustees do need to take the lead on this. If a cultural change is in order - if discipline instead of the "we-deserve-another-break" mentality needs to be re-introduced to the schedule - then it will be up to trustees to take a leadership role. They must ask the tough questions that will make some staff members, who may feel entitled to the many breaks in the current schedule, uncomfortable.

This is truly the kind of rubber-meets-the-road issue where student interest can get lost in the shuffle of staff convenience and paper tiger issues like "August is the hottest month so …" Well, February is the coldest … So what? Let's get to work and do what's best for the students.