Carly Risom
Reporter
This past fall, the calendar was altered due to days off and numerous special schedules. In Sept. alone, there were five shortened weeks due to Labor Day, Jewish holidays, and more than three major assemblies.
Despite being disruptive, there is an importance in the days off and assemblies. According to Principal Bryan Luizzi, it is both “right and appropriate” to have religious holidays such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah off and that influential assemblies, such as “Names Can Hurt,” greatly better the academic community.
However, according to history teacher Jessica Browner, the assemblies and days off are scheduled too close to one another, creating challenges for students and diminishing the fluidity in the learning process and class curriculums. “We all agree that that these activities are important, such as the Holocaust Assembly, but it would be helpful if the activities were more spread out throughout the year,” she said.
Math teacher Bill Doyle agreed, seeing the schedules as interruptions to student learning. “I think if a student misses the same course, which is clearly not to be blamed on those planning the assemblies, its absolutely a disruption to the student’s learning,” he said. “In addition, while I support all academic assemblies and I don’t want kids to miss them, students are put in a hard place when they have to pick and choose between going to class and attending the assembly.”
The shortened schedules have been putting pressure on students. Freshman Charlotte Kilbride has found that the brief periods quickened the pace of her AP World class. “[My class has] a schedule for each unit that we try to stick to, and these shortened classes can make it feel rushed,” she said. “However, my teacher is understanding and is able to adjust his lessons so that we get all the information we need for any assessments, despite any special schedules. This makes shortened schedules or days off much more manageable.”
Depending on the class, such schedules can have a larger or smaller impact. History teacher Paul Phillips said that, because classes like AP World are two years long, it is easier to make up for lost time than rigorous and fast-paced courses, like AP U.S. History (APUSH). “In my case, we do AP World in two years, so it gives us more wiggle room to get the job done,” he said. “If this were APUSH, which is done in one year, losing a day would be a bigger deal.”
In addition to academics, sports affected by Hurricane Sandy were also altered this season. “The days we had off definitely impacted us physically because there was less time to work out for soccer,” senior Eileen Dinnie said.
According to Eileen, everything was pushed back and the final Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) round was eliminated. In addition, girls soccer was only allowed to practice the last three days of the Sandy “break.”
These days off also posed challenges to seniors in terms of the college process. The lack of electricity meant that there was no way applications could be entered online. However, some seniors were unscathed by the loss of time, “The days off would have worsened my college process, but I was basically finished with the application process,” senior Austin Nader said. “If I hadn’t completed the process, then I would have for sure taken advantage of the free time and pushed the application aside.”
With midterm exams just around the corner, the question has arisen of whether or not to revise tests, or speed up the curriculum in order to make up for lost class time. According to Mr. Phillips, his midterms will definitely be altered. “I’ll have to adjust what’s on the midterm according to what we covered this semester,” he said. “I think a lot of teachers are going to have to do that.”
Ms. Browner is in a similar position. “Teachers will of course modify their midterms to make sure they accurately reflect what was taught in the first semester, but the curriculum may also be compressed to make up for lost time,” she said.
Dr. Luizzi is well aware of the distractions these special schedules create, but points out why they are also beneficial to students. “We feel it’s important to provide a comprehensive, well-balanced experience for all of our students,” he said. “We’re careful about interruptions to classes, though. We only approve them if they are truly meaningful opportunities.”
