Fenton High has switched from three weeks to two weeks
March 10, 2021
More changes in this school year have taken place. On March 1, students will no longer have a three-week rotation of classes. Instead, students have a two-week rotation. The process of making this decision was long, but the administration hopes it will be the correct decision in the end.
“This decision took two calendar months,” Principal Laura Lemke said. “It took us a month to devise a calendar to make sure that 1, 3, 5 and 2, 4, 6 classes would be equitable in the number of times they meet. We then had to look at conflicts with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate testing along with senior exams. We then had a final meeting in the middle of Feb. where it was approved to begin March 1.”
How come this change is happening so late into the year? Many decisions had to be discussed and considered before a decision could be final.
“Recently, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed the length of quarantine for possible exposure from 14 days to now 10 days,” Fenton Education Association negotiator and English teacher Megan Ake said. “This change allowed us the possibility to make the switch. Even though it’s late in the year we wanted to offer students and teachers the opportunity to see each other more often. This switch will hopefully keep learning and instruction more consistent.”
The possible drawbacks of the new schedule are a concern for some. The increased workload, speeding through a lesson and less time in that set of classes are drawbacks making a small number of students question the change.
“I feel like it’ll be beneficial,” senior Lily Tiong said. “Usually by the time we switch back to our other classes, I had forgotten the material from three weeks ago. Having a two-week switch will help with remembering the materials and help with grades in general. It definitely could be harder to get work done, though. I know for seniors we have a lot of IB assessments due in the upcoming months, so the time in classes will fly by.”
The change in schedule is hoping to help relieve stress and see each class a little bit more.
