After Hurricane Sandy and the during the last week of October led to six cancelled school days at the very end of the first quarter, both students and staff wondered whether administrators would extend the quarter. In theory, this would allow for additional time for students to complete assignments and for teachers to administer final tests or quizzes.
Ultimately, the administration decided, rightfully, to keep the original quarter dates and follow through with the official schedule.
“I’m glad that the administrators decided not to extend the first quarter,” said junior Lylia Li. “It will definitely benefit not only the students, but also the teachers in the long run.”
Extending the quarter simply would have caused more disruption to the already interrupted school schedule. Overall, it was the smartest and most beneficial decision to keep the original dates.
This was beneficial to both students and teachers alike, as making any more changes to the schedule would have resulted in superfluous, unnecessary confusion and extra additions to the workload.
Since the first quarter counts the least under Schreiber’s weighting system, the second, third, and fourth quarters, which are valued as more important, will remain unaffected. This is the most favorable solution for everyone in the school community because the quarter that counts the least is cut short, while the more heavily counted quarters are left to their full length to allow students the proper amount of time to complete all assignments and earn the best grades possible.
“Because of the unique weighting system, all of the quarters other than the first count for more than this one,” said senior Ashley Pollack. “Therefore, it is good that this quarter ended when it did so as not to interfere with the following quarters that count more.”
The lost week of school also posed questions about how the district would compensate for missed instructional time.
Regardless of whether the New York State government holds schools responsible for making up lost school days and completing the required 180 classroom days, classes will still have to cover the same amount of curricula as before in time for cumulative exams.
“It may be difficult to finish everything we need to cover in time, even if the district adds back additional school days,” said senior Shalini Radhakrishnan. “Still, it was the right decision to add back this time over the February break, and hopefully, three days will be sufficient to finish all of the material in all classes.”
Students, teachers, and administrators alike will have to work together over the course of the coming months to complete all of the required material in time for standardized AP, Regents, and final exams at the end of the year.
This will help to ensure that the week lost due to Hurricane Sandy that at the time, seemed like it would wreak havoc on classes for the rest of the year, causes minimal disruption to the school schedule.
Everyone will need to cooperate and come together as a single entity in order to help the community as a whole return to the status quo as quickly and as smoothly as possible.