Study Sessions were commonly skipped by students throughout the school when finals hit. Consequences were not enforced by the principals until fall semester.
“Study session exemptions were a reward for students who received those based on their grades and their attendance, and so for those students who are unexcused, there’s a consequence,” principal Rick Rivera said.
Consequences for skipping study sessions are in place to hold students accountable and reward students with good grades and attendance.
“We want to make sure that those students who are not following that policy are held accountable so that we don’t have to remove that reward for those students who have earned that opportunity,” Rivera said.
As sudden as the detentions were, there was positive feedback from parents.
“Once we explained the process, parents were pretty supportive of what we were doing here at school,” Rivera said.
Along with that, came pushback from students who still missed study sessions.
“We had two classrooms full of students whenever we gave out detentions,” Rivera said.
The most common reason students are required to attend study sessions. Appointments, being called out, and more are all issues leading to study session attendance.
“We’re looking at certain absences, working with students to understand these are the types of absences that are exempt, so medical, and we added funeral to it,” assistant principal TJ Meyer said.
These changes are still a work in progress. The administration wants to focus on what is best for students and encourage the acceptance of these changes. Details for spring semester are still a work in progress, surveys regarding finals schedules have been sent out.
