It is only the first day of school, and students already are complaining about their schedules.

“I mean, the guidance staff has only been preparing for the new school year since February. How long does it take to sort 3,000 kids? Six months? I bet I could do that in six days.”

Hey, all you have to do is satisfy every single student\’s requirements and requests.

Oh yeah, and then make sure each teacher has a total of 180 students, a limit of five periods a day, and a maximum of 37 students per class.

Easy smeasy.

Of course, Superman can do this organization in six days, but to any mere mortal, it takes much longer than that.

That\’s why we have a guidance team here on the Fountain Valley campus. A team of Clark Kent clones, you could say.

There are four guidance specialists and a head of guidance who work from February to October trying to sort 3,000 students into the appropriate classes. And this organization is separate from their year-round jobs of counseling students.

Even though creating schedules isn\’t easy, students can\’t help but complain when schedules are messed up.

I mean, come on, I wouldn\’t want to have a teacher I didn\’t like either. And then there are all those problems of being put in the wrong class.

It takes one click to mix up a schedule, but three weeks to fix it. How does that happen?

On top of that, students have to deal with frustrated specialists. Trust me, it\’s not easy trying to get a schedule change.

Students think the specialists have it easy, and specialists think students don\’t understand how hard they work. Now if it\’s a known fact that the guidance specialists are doing their jobs, and that students have legitimate complaints, who is to be blamed?  What\’s the solution?

Specialists and students need to relax, take a step back, and try to understand each other.  We all share a common goal—making the best schedules for everyone—and guidance specialists and students should work together to achieve that goal.

All eyes are on her, and she knows it. The music is loud, the drinks are flowing, and she is “So totally GONE, oh my god!” So when Cute Stranger Boy leads her away, she thinks there\’s no harm in an innocent hookup, right? She’ll stop it before it gets too far, of course.

But can she?

Too many stories are heard, too many lives ruined, by some alcohol-induced party hookup later regretted.

I’m not just talking about the girls who claim “date rape.” I’m talking about the guys who go to jail, the guys who have to be labeled a sexual predator for the rest of their lives because of some drunken mistake. The reputations that are ruined, the stereotypes procured, the lawyers who don’t even know what the hell they’re fighting for anymore –

All because of a little vodka and lot of hormones.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines rape as “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her consent.” Dr. Andrea Parrot of Cornell’s Department of Human Service Studies writes, “Any sexual intercourse without mutual desire is a form of rape.”

Okay, agreed. “Forcibly against her consent.” Meaning if you try to hook up with some cute girl, but she says “no,” too bad. Got it. Easy enough.

Things get a little more complicated when alcohol is thrown into the mix. However, the FBI’s definition makes absolutely no mention of an inappropriate blood alcohol content level or even whether a drunken “yes” still in fact counts as a “yes.” The thing is, 55% of all victims in rape attempts and 75% of their attackers are impaired by alcohol. I think the statistics are hefty enough to at least require a side note.

So what happens when some cute drunk girl doesn’t say “no?” An article in the University of Richmond’s campus newspaper describes one scenario. Listen to this:

Jill, a former student at the university, and two friends stayed in a hotel for a week after finals. One night, the girls decided to start drinking in their room. “I was very drunk,” Jill remembers. “I couldn’t stop falling all over the place.” The girls eventually went to a few parties, but when Jill got separated from her friends, she decided to go back to her hotel room to pass out. Her friends eventually returned with two males they knew from school; one of them, whom Jill had never met before, climbed into the bed between Jill and her friend. He began kissing Jill, never introducing himself. She kissed him back, “thinking nothing of it.”

Jill claims she had no idea how her clothes were taken off. “He just got on top of me and we started having sex,” she said. “I just laid there completely still. In my head I was thinking, ‘What is happening? I don’t want to do this.’ I didn’t move at all. I don’t even know why he continued.”

“I don’t even know if I can call it rape,” Jill said. “I was definitely taken advantage of. I never would have done it sober, but it’s hard to call it rape because I was too drunk to say no.”

The newspapers\’ final conclusion? Jill was raped. It even goes on to criticize her for not pressing charges! The poor, poor thing.

Okay, seriously? While the whole situation is definitely regrettable, to call the guy a rapist seems completely ridiculous. He was drunk; she was drunk. Somehow though, even though she continued to mess around with him, he was supposed to stop things right then and there? Talk about mixed signals!

It just doesn’t seem very fair, or very 21st century of us, to rely on the male to keep things from escalating. Even more so, a regrettable hookup, especially when consented to, does not equal rape.

So many different situations come to mind where girls have taken advantage of the system and claimed rape after a long night of partying. Remember the stripper who claimed the three football players took advantage of her at a university party? That was later proved to be one big fat lie.

Come on, ladies! We are intelligent, beautiful and independent beings. We have the right to vote, the right to drink, and most importantly, the obligation to take care of ourselves. We live in a society where circumstances can be brutal enough on their own. There are way too many innocent girls in America who actually are victims of date rape; lets not make it trendy with false allegations and exaggerated party stories.

And boys, a little advice. That cute drunk girl? So not worth the drama, or the jail time. Think with your head guys, and I mean the one on top of your shoulders.

Fountain Valley High School\’s guidance department has many resources for students to turn to, according to students\’ needs. FVHS has four guidance specialists who are responsible for changing students\’ schedules, one college/career specialist who is responsible for giving students advice on colleges and careers, as well as one guidance counselor who is responsible for giving students academic advice. Listed below is each resource with its individual responsibilities.

Guidance Specialist: Ms. Hornbuckle (A-Fj), Ms. Whitman (Fl-Le), Ms. Doan (Li-Q), Ms. McCall (R-Z)

• Registration for classes
• Parent/Student conference for news students
• Providing program planning
• Assisting students with planning, scheduling, and class changes per district policy
• Referring students to appropriate guidance staff
• Meeting with feeder schools
• Participating in guidance orientation
• Developing 4 year plans

College/career specialist: Mr. Walters

• Maintaining/organizing career center info
• Assisting students to obtain info regarding college and or/ career
• Researching careers and obtains specialized career info on student request
• Preparing and updates careers
• Introducing visiting groups
• Conducting classroom presentations regarding financial aid, scholarships and college
  applications.
• Meeting with parents/students regarding testing, college/career info
• Holding workshops regarding information for parents/students
• Acting as a liaison with university/college admission officers

Guidance counselor: Ms. Wong

• Provides educational career/college counseling to individuals/small groups of students
• Provides guidance to students on social aid and personal decisions
• Serves as a resource to parents/students/staff
• Identifies and serves at risk and credit deficient students and works with students/parents to develop a plan for the student to receive a high school diploma
• Helps students make decisions
• Assists and tracks students in the CAHSEE and helps those who need it to pass
• Provides information about educational and college/career opportunities
• Uses referral agencies to help students beyond school
• Hosts junior PSAT night for parents