CHANGES ROCK THE BOAT AT CCA

SARAH DAWSON'S ROOM; PHOTO BY MAKIRA MEIER

Come this year, CLT looks very different to what it did previously. In past years, students were able to move CLTs by requesting to be on a teacher’s list. They could see specific teachers within the given time and get help from them as needed. After the first quarter, there was also the option of going to the cafeteria and library for those who had As and Bs.      

This year however, CLT is now known as Advisory, and will be geared more toward engaging students in different opportunities rather than being an open study hall. It’s been very apparent that the majority of students are unhappy with the changes. Many have concerns about being able to get work done, and confusion on how this new advisory will look. 

Though there have been methods of addressing this by the school administration, such as the meeting with Principal Daniel and the informative email that was sent out, there is still a lot of uneasiness surrounding the topic. The majority of the students did not find the meeting in the auditorium helpful, with 44.6% of students not understanding and 33.7% understanding. On the other hand, students found the email that was sent out to be more beneficial, with 44.8% of students finding it helpful, and 40.6% not.     

Many students feel that these changes are unnecessary. Junior Sam Strank said “I personally think from word of mouth and my own opinion that the old system was working just fine for the mass of the school.” This is something that many students agreed with. 

Another student, sophomore Kobe Dobesh, mentioned that the school could argue that the reason for change is phones and they could say “... most people were on their phones or doing other things during CLT, so it wasn't very beneficial to the students' education,” and went on to respond to that argument, explaining that the reality is “... a student could be on their phone for 2 out of the 4 days we have CLT a week, and then they could really need those other two days to do their work.”    

   The email that the high school sent out says they changed it to “address a broader range of student needs and interests,” also saying, “While we are still in the process of finalizing these offerings, the goal is to stretch students’ abilities by allowing them time to explore areas of interest and work on advanced projects.”     

  Mr. Daniel expanded on this, saying that they want to keep students engaged for the whole day. With the previous system, Mr. Daniel shared, “I’m not sure we can say everyone was using those hours instructionally speaking,” which is similar to what Dobesh said. He also felt that it lacked in the aspect of giving advanced opportunities to students who were up for it.    

Principal Daniel said that though some of the change could be attributed to phone usage, it was something that was coming regardless. That applies to both the restrictions on phone usage and the changes to CLT. Along with all of this, administration across the board wanted to offer help to kids that need it and offer a chance to explore for the kids that don’t.     

  Student Support is another thing that students were upset about being removed. Student Support was an hour of allotted time after school on Wednesdays where students could meet with teachers for help, similarly to the previous CLT format. Mr. Daniel explained that the main reason that Student Support was removed was because Wednesdays are meant to be focused on teachers’ professional development saying, “The district is investing a lot of money in the trainings, into professional development to make sure we are serving our students...”, he also said that it’s a time to refine the system so that we can grow as a school. One of the major things he mentioned was that teachers need to grow and evolve just as the students do, and that time on Wednesdays is intended for that. There is an understanding that this comes at the expense of the students' support, but administration plans on reincorporating that back into the day, both during class and Advisory.     

Mr. Daniel said “We just have to make sure that we are giving all of our students the support that they need,” but students, like senior Aurora Mack say “For a school that is supposed to be helping all students excel and be inclusive, it sure is excluding the students who aren't able to without assistance.”

Out of 101 students, over 60% don’t feel as though they can complete their homework without a study hall time and over 58% of students don’t feel as though enrichment time will be beneficial to them.

Based on what Mrs. Carlo, one of the counselors here at the high school, explained, students will be able to meet with their specific teacher at least two times a week so long as it doesn’t conflict with the teacher’s enrichment schedule. Teachers are allotted one slot of enrichment max per week. The main four options will be homeroom (Mondays), study hall, intervention, and enrichment for those with grades above a D (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays). She also said that students should be prepared for structure in these study hall opportunities to create a productive environment. This could include collecting phones or teachers using Hapara Highlights. Groups will also be smaller, so the number of people on a list will be limited, providing focus on specific individuals. Teachers will be able to request students for intervention sessions or study hall and students will be able to request enrichment, study hall and intervention opportunities through Power School.   

   Adrianna Brandt stated, “‘Enrichment time’ is a very vague phrase, and doesn't explain very well what advisory will be used for.” This was a common question among the student body.      

One of the options for enrichment will be going to clubs. Though there may be some concern as to how students can still attend clubs if they have work to do, this is something that will vary depending on the club/teacher. Some will still be held after school but also during Advisory, or be during/after-school exclusive.      

Other enrichment activities besides clubs could be Battle of the Books, learning field hockey, rugby, various life skills, or students could come up with their own ideas and ask their teachers to host. CCA has also had different groups reach out and ask if they could teach something during one of those enrichment slots.     

As of September 18, 2024, these changes are to be implemented on October 28, 2024. These changes were suddenly onset by the administration, so there are still unknown details, but more information is coming out as things are sorted through. Mr. Daniel said that he plans on getting more feedback from the student body and getting their voices in the schools decision making setting in the future. Principal Daniel and other staff also emphasize that there will be flexibility: “If we don’t get it right the first time we’ll adjust, and if it’s not ready to be rolled out at our target date then we’ll push it back,” adding, “I do want what is rolled out to be effective... We will make sure that we are doing it right.”