The current schedule with Wednesdays being a half day provides opportunities for students to catch up on school work and do more than just survive the week, but conquer the week; they’re a necessity. 

The half day on Wednesday was introduced earlier in the year to break up the days when students were in school. Doing so allowed the two cohorts groups each two days to be in school, two days of at home learning and one day, Wednesday, for all students to be at home. The remote half-day has all six classes meet for thirty minutes each with the rest of the time, called student support time, for students to catch up on assignments. 

With the no scheduled classes, the afternoon is dedicated as time for students to reach out and get one-on-one help. Students are also able to use this time to make up tests or other teacher-observed activities missed from being in quarantine from exposure to Covid. The time is needed as a work day for students with hard classes overwhelmed with workloads. 

On March 15, when all remote students returned to in-person learning, the amount of people nearly doubled, meaning more people and more chances of exposure. If students were to return for all five days, there wouldn’t be as much time to cleanse the school. Keeping Wednesday’s remote allows for an entire day to cleanse the school of any infectants and reduces exposure.

Taking away Wednesdays impacts teachers as well as students. Teachers use the day for lesson plans, grading or other meetings; taking away Wednesdays from teachers takes away from family time due to the removal of dedicated work hours to grade or get ahead of things. 

There’s been so many changes with the structure of school week and days and after a year of being in and out of Covid lockdowns and procedures, students need a constant in their life. The “normal” way of five days a week, six different classes a day has changed a few times and this year has been all but normal, students have adapted to the new schedule and changing it again disrupts what has since become the norm. Too many changes affects consistency and consistency is one leading factor between failure and success, according to CEO of Difference Consulting Jen Roberts.

Some argue students don’t use the dedicated work time to catch up on homework. While that may be true, students sometimes need a mental health break to listen to music, draw or do whatever is needed to get their mind off the stressors of Covid. 

Half day on Wednesdays need to stay the same. To keep the schedule how it is, students need to email the board office and sign the petition giving logical reasons proving we deserve to keep the half day, the more the merrier.