At the start of the year, students walked into the building to find new security doors, new computers, and internet, that were not installed in the previous school year. Now, since the second semester has started, there are a few other things that are changing in the school, again to help the security of the school and the students’ education they receive. The first thing that has been added as a new update to the school’s technology are more chrome carts. These are being added to give students easier access to assignments and classes on Google Classroom and also their online courses, if they are taking one, but there has been problems with the fuses and the amount of electricity they are drawing, when they are charging, so they have not been released yet.

“We’ve added more Chrome carts [as a part of the Technology Plan] but we haven’t deployed them yet. We’re having some issues,” Principal Mark Suchowski said. “When you think about it there’s 40 things that need to be plugged in, all the Chromebooks are plugged in inside the cart, [which] has one plug on it. When you go up to an outlet in this building and plug that in, we’re blowing fuses. We’re working through it, there’s some things you can do, you can add a bigger fuse, you can designate certain places to plug those in.”

The transition from juniors taking the ACT to them taking the SAT has been in effect all year, but there is something new that will help juniors study for the SAT better

“Something new that’s going to allow [juniors] to study is they are going to set up, and some already have, set up a Khan Academy account and then they are going to set up an account with College Board,” Suchowski said. “Then, they’re going to get those two accounts to talk to each other so when you go to Khan Academy, they’re not going to give you general stuff to study, they’re going to give you stuff to study so you’ll do better on the SAT based on how you did on the PSAT. So if you’re a better math student then you are an english student, they might say you need to study your english do this, this and this, as opposed to just doing everything and hoping you get what you need.”

The final thing that is different from last year is that Fenton High School is not an MYP school anymore. This was started at the beginning of the year, but things around school are going to change within the next few weeks because of the switch. This is going to cause many things with scheduling, because students will have an extra space for an elective if they chose not to take a language this upcoming school year.

“Most kids will continue and take another year of world language here at the high school but after that they’re going to have one more elective room in their schedule,” Suchowski said. “So I’m curious to see how scheduling will go. Does everybody flock to foods and all-of-a-sudden Mrs. Kidd needs to teach seven out of eight classes, or is everybody gonna go to CADD, is everybody gonna go to drama, where are they going to go instead of that extra section or course of world language or will they stick to world language? Who knows, I’m curious to see.”

The final thing is school security, the system of how staff members  gets into the school has changed as well, they do not have to unlock the doors with keys anymore.

“I think in terms of newness, the new security system in place,” Suchowski said. “I can go up to the front door of the school and I [as well as other teachers] don’t have to take out my key, I just take my badge and swipe in. [Also with] the new security doors you know we’re very safe because only the people who have keys to get into the building can get.”
There have been a few things changing in the school since the start of the year, from Chromebooks, to security. Once the current fusen problems are solved, one will see more chromebook carts in teachers’ classrooms, and students will be able to have more access to homework and assignments online through Google Classroom. Staff can now get into the school easier, but make it harder for the people who should not be in the building at any given time to get in. With these new and improved things, the school is looking less and less older and becoming more and more newer in a way.