Big changes are in the works for students, teachers and administrators after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Penn Manor has been seeking ways to help students improve academically, according to school officials. Penn Manor’s administration considered several options until they came up with a plan they think will work.
But hang on, it may seem a bit complicated at first.
Instead of having homeroom days only Tuesday and Thursday, Penn Manor students would have a homeroom period every day of the week. On Monday, during the homeroom period, students would go back to first block for more instruction in that subject. On Wednesday they would go back to second block during the homeroom period for additional instruction in that subject area. Fridays, students would go to third block during this homeroom time. The following Monday, students would go to fourth block and so on.
On Tuesday and Thursday, students would have their regular homeroom period. On Tuesday, students would either go to their regular homeroom or tutoring. On Thursday, students would either go to homeroom, tutoring or their club.
Not all Penn Manor students are in favor of this idea.
“I’m not going to be able to wait for lunch that long everyday,” complained junior Lauren Anderson.
‘We are 99.9 percent sure that this will happen unless someone has a good reason not to do it,” Penn Manor’s principal Phil Gale said.
“We plan to have the schedule change after Thanksgiving,” he added.
“I don’t want that at all. Seniors should not have to anyways,” Senior Joey Carlyle said.
Gale said the reason Penn Manor is doing this is because of decreasing scores and other academic challenges.
One senior student thinks the idea is a good one and wishes he would have had several years with the changed schedules.
“I heard about it from a couple teachers,” said Patrick Jones, a Penn Manor senior. “It’s not too bad. It’s better for kids to help them understand what they’re learning. I think I would have liked the schedule if they started it earlier. You could work on a lot more stuff for your classes.”
Gale indicated he believes the new schedule will help boost scores, including PSSA scores, PSAT scores and SAT scores.
He said he is not pointing fingers at any particular class or sub group but the changes are aimed at boosting academic achievement across the school.
By Tyler Funk
I do not think this is a good idea. For students with internships, this will mess up their schedules. For me, I am already late to my intern on Tuesdays and Thursdays because of homeroom (I go everyday, they like me there by 1). It is at a rehab hospital, so only get to be there an hour, if even that, so I like to be there every second I can. Also, when it comes to that time for homeroom when I go to fourth block, where am I to go? I do not have a fourth block. This is a baaadddd idea.
I also believe this can have a negative effect on students. Many students do very well on their required testing and in their academic courses. As always, these students will have to suffer because of those students who don’t try at all…
I love this. Brilliant idea. We lose about a day worth of each class per week from doing this. I was told today that, because of this lost time, we won’t be covering a decent amount of what’s on the tests for my AP classes. And why are the seniors doing this at all? It’s not like they’re taking the PSSA’s ever again.
Now i have to go back to first block twice, and first block is not very fun. Math is taught in the math department, not anywhere else.
I think the schools intentions are good but for seniors that did well on their PSSA tests and SAT’s it seems more like a punishment for a job well done. AP students will be losing a class a week. Since those students are PAYING to takethose tests it is the school’s responsibility to provide us with the knowledge to pass those tests. Missing class time for this “enrichment” that most of us don’t need is taking away from time learning and therefore wasting our money. The school should help those that need it without hurting the kids that don’t.