Students, Teachers Weigh in on Flex Fridays
Written by Mallory Paine
Photo by Greta Chabot
On December 16th, the school board passed a calendar change with a 4-3 vote, enacting five flex days for middle and high school students. This calendar change was an idea created by professionals hired by the district to help with issues like teacher workload and overcrowding in classrooms. School board member Lousie Hinz says that after hearing students talk about overcrowding leading to less opportunities to ask questions she thought, “I look at the structure of this day and those office hours in the afternoon and I see that as the place that yes there will be me as a student to get my question answered.” Along with the positive ideas of what flex days could bring to the district, there was still major pushback from three school board members Katie Schwartz, Simi Patnaik, and Sharon Van Leer with their main argument being students do not need any more days away from the classroom because so much class time has been lost by staff shortages. Katie Shwartz was against these flex days because “I think they are coming organically because as people have spoke, kids are learning in the media center already when we have a shortage [of staff], kids are learning in different places, this is already happening and I don’t want to see us taking away another day when we’re not pushing out instruction.”
Many teachers at East Ridge High school have varying opinions about flex days like the school board. Some AP and higher level course teachers have shown concern for these days because they won’t be able to give the full instruction they had planned. AP Chemistry teacher Ms. Gavin disagrees with the change, adding “I believe that it is more beneficial if the students came to school and teachers could have a work day to work with the students during that time and the rest of the class could work on stuff and the teacher could work one-on-one with that student. I don’t feel like that on those days if you have a student that is struggling they are going to make an effort at home to get help with that teacher. If the student is in class there are more options to give them the help they need.”
On the other hand, teachers with classes that have many behind students find these days as a relief because it is an opportunity to help those students catch up and make sure everyone passes their class. English teacher Ms. Hamernick says, “I think that teachers are super creative people and that we can figure out how to best utilize the time that we have in the classroom and the time that students have outside of the classroom.” Most teachers do share the opinion though that there is still work to be done to this schedule and improvements can be made to make them better. Ms. Hamernick adds, “I like the idea of flex days but I wish that for some students who are capable and are on top of their work and things like that didn’t have to jump through the hoops of checking in. I found it really beneficial for the students that needed extra help or had questions about what we are doing in class.”
Ms. Gavin found the flex day to be just as difficult if not more difficult to plan for her pre-AP chemistry classes and AP chemistry classes as a normal school day would be, “For my pre-AP class, it's more work to create classes on my end, Pear Decks are more work and checking in with the class, but it’s fine. It’s the AP classes that are difficult to manage, but I’m in the minority feeling that because there are very few AP classes.”
Students are also opinionated about the flex days and have cautious optimism as well as worries about the new calendar. Cathy Ndovu, a junior and AP student at East Ridge feels that “it is a nice break to have after a longer week, so I don’t really dislike them, I think it’s nice to be able to stay home and finish homework in my own time.” Students agree with teachers that adjustments are still needed to the new flex days. Senior Fionna Shepherd who also is an AP students, agrees with Ms. Hamernick’s idea about not having to check into every class; “I think just checking in if we need help would be nice because I’m someone who’s more independent so it would be nice to just have time to work on stuff.” A main goal for the district with these flex days was improvement of student and teacher mental health. Both Ndovu and Shepherd agreed that the first flex day improved their mental health. “It’s kind of more of a relaxed day,” Fionna said.
All in all, the flex days have not met original expectations for students and teachers, but their potential is not limited. The district is moving in a good direction with the acknowledgment of the mental health of teachers and students and just needs a little more work to create the best work and learning environment it can offer.
