By Chloe Nash, Editor-in-Chief
October 21, 2024
ROCKLAND- At the start of the school year, Rockland High students lost the use of the library and woodshop due to budget cuts in the district. There are also no MCAS math preparation courses, after-school fitness, or Saturday school.
The reasoning behind many of these budget cuts was because of the loss of funds given previously to the district during the pandemic.
Rockland High’s principal, Ms. Cheryl Schipper, said, “After Covid, there was funding provided to districts to make sure we were supporting students as we came out of the pandemic, and those funds essentially dried up because the pandemic was over.”
MCAS prep course was created to make sure students in grade 10 were doing the best they could and providing extra help in the area of math before the spring exam.
Also, having no woodshop has affected many students as Ms. Schipper realizes that in some cases, it was their favorite part of the day.
Ms. Schipper added, “I don’t want anyone getting the impression that people think they aren’t important because they are very important… We just had to limit some of the things we were offering to students.”
Ms. Margaret Black, head of the guidance department, has found that the loss of woodshop and robotics has had the biggest effect on students.
“It is unfortunate that [students] don’t get the opportunity to take those courses… but it is what it is and we all have to make the best out of it,” Ms. Black said.
With this budget cut, many students have been forced into an elective they didn’t choose and schedules have been impacted.
For now, teachers won’t know if the math MCAS course being taken away had a negative or positive impact until the scores from the upcoming 2025 MCAS come out next fall.
Kyara Williams, a junior who used the library frequently, finds that it is harder to focus during study and the library was a good escape to be somewhere quiet.
“It is disappointing that it isn’t open because I felt more productive doing work in the library and now I end up having much more homework because it just gets hard to focus in my study,” Williams said.
As well as with the Math MCAS, she realizes it is a big disadvantage for some people as others may need extra help with passing.
Dr. Alan Cron, superintendent, is monitoring the budget but it is unknown if any of the lost resources and programs will be reinstated in coming years.