CHANGE: Poly sets up a new schedule for early release days.
By Cameron Brewer, Staff Writer
For the last few years, students have been released from Poly High School every Wednesday at 2:00 pm, but the schedule changed coming into the 2017-2018 school year. After a vote between the teachers, coaches, and administrators at Poly, a new schedule was devised limiting the early release days to every other Wednesday. Since the amount of early release days are cut in half, the remaining early release days let students leave even earlier, ending the school day at 1:10 pm.
Some argue that an important part of teaching is ensuring that the students have enough time to learn all of the curriculum. If students absorb too much information too quickly, they will not have time to process it all. “To tell you the truth, I think [the new schedule] gives me as a teacher a little bit more time to work with students. I’ve noticed over the years that there’s a disconnect amongst students on Wednesdays, meaning there’s lost instruction time,” Mr. Day said. With more time to teach lessons on the normal Wednesdays, teachers such as Mr. Day can work with students to help them better understand a concept or idea.
On the minimum days, a lot of time is lost to both the students and the teachers. However, the other half of the Wednesdays are normal schedule, so time is only lost every other Wednesday. “As a coach, it helps because I have sixth period basketball and on those minimum days those periods are much shorter. On the regular days, the regular Wednesdays that aren’t minimum days, we get our full time in the gym, so it helps in that regard as well,” Poly Basketball Coach Dodson said.
There is a chance for confusion over which days are early release and which are not. “I like the other schedule a little bit better because it was consistent from week to week, but you got to do what you got to do. It’s what the faculty voted on,” Mr. Mooring said. In response to possible confusion over what time to be picked up, Associated Student Body (ASB) released a schedule that includes the dates for the minimum days of that month, along with any sporting event that is featured in the month.
This is the first year of the new schedule, so this year will set a precedent as to what will be expected from here on out. The success and fluidity of the new schedule will determine if Poly continues to incorporate it.