With all the changes COVID-19 has made, the FHS administration had to make a decision about whether or not students would be taking semester exams. With the changes and inconsistency with this school year, it was decided students will not be taking semester exams.

“This was a hard decision to make,” principal Laura Lemke said. “Taking exams is good practice for college, where an entire class grade may be determined by how well a student does on a midterm and final exam.” 

Multiple factors went into the administration’s decision on canceling mid-terms this year, besides COVID-19 keeping students away from school.

“To help us make this decision we polled other metro league schools as well as other schools in Genesee County,” Lemke said. “There were also other factors that affected our decision. Some students don’t have the resources to take exams at home. There have been a lot of technical issues as well that could affect a student’s ability to do the best they possibly can.”

Because of the pandemic, numerous changes had been made to the school year. The inconsistency of the students learning environment was a factor in the decision-making process.

“The exams were written for a non-pandemic year,” Lemke said. “Our pacing has been thrown off to the whims because of the pandemic from part of the year being online, then in person, then back online. The students won’t know the information they need to be successful so we decided it was not fair to add more stress on students.”

Although exams will not be mandatory, students will have the option to take one if they choose as some may need the extra grade boost, as we close the semester.