New Year New Rules

Six weeks into the school year, students are adjusting to several changes in the schedule, including the removal of RTI, longer class periods, and mandatory semester exams. 

One of the most noticeable changes has been the removal of RTI, which previously provided 20 minutes for students to complete work, receive additional teaching opportunities, meet with teachers about missing assignments, and have club meetings. 

“Although it was taken away…I think now we're seeing a little bit of stress on the system,” secondary principal Katina Carlile said.

Carlile said the school is considering how to bring some of that time back into the schedule.

“We are looking at maybe the 2nd six weeks doing something different to try to give some time back to students and clubs,” Carlile said. 

Sophomore Leland McDonald said that the removal of RTI has affected how students manage their time.  

“I have seen more people having to do school work at their house because they did not finish it in class, and they don’t have an RTI to get it done,” McDonald said. “ Having no RTI has not had a positive effect on my time management skills because I have to make sure to do all my work between the bells for class.”

Teachers are also feeling the change. The removal of RTI has made it more difficult to provide additional help to students during the school day.   

“Without that RTI during the day, I don't have any time to make up work with students or help them. Like, if they don't understand,” science teacher and NHS adviser Amanda Farris said.  “And then for the NHS, I'm actually having to give up my lunch period.” 

On the other hand, no RTI has cleared up room for longer class periods, which some students and teachers feel like longer class time allows them to get more work done in class.

“For me as a teacher, the longer class period is a little bit helpful because I teach science, and I do a lot of labs,” Farris said.

Freshman Gibson Hickman also said the longer class periods allow the teachers to more time to cover material.

“Longer classes have had a positive effect on teaching because they can teach us more things in the classroom,” Hickman said.

Another change is the new attendance policy and its connection to semester exams. Carlile said coming to class every day is important because students receive instruction that cannot always be done with make-up work. 

“Even if they come in and say, I need my makeup work, the quality of instruction that you get when you're in class, the first time it's presented, is not the same as coming in to make up the work,” Carlile said.

Hickman, however, claims the new attendance policy can have an effect on how much kids want to go to school.

“I feel like [the new attendance policy] incentivises absence because if everybody had to take the semester finals, they don’t care if they are absent,” Hickman said. “The way we used to do it made sure people showed up to school.” 

A parent who wishes to remain anonymous also questioned whether the new attendance policy provides enough incentives for students to come to school regularly. 

“If there's no benefit to them at the end, then what keeps kids from going on a trip?” the parent said. “What keeps them from missing class because, well, it doesn't matter. They have to take tests anyway. So to me, we've lost an incentive piece.”