In a meeting on Wednesday, Manual’s School Based Decision Making council discussed possibilities to adjust the end-of-year schedule in relation to finals and activities for seniors.
Three possible options were considered:
Option One states that all finals are held the week of June 2 to June 6. The main concern from the faculty here is whether attendance will remain high the following week after all students finish their finals.
Option Two would require all absent students to fill out Educational Enrichment forms with Principal Mayes’ approval, and these students would all be exempt from their finals. The students’ final grades would be the current averages at the end of the term without the finals scores included. The greatest concern here would be from teachers whose finals aren’t being taken.
Option Three also requires all absent students to fill out Educational Enrichment forms, but these students would take their finals at an earlier date. The concern in this option is student integrity since some students will be taking their finals much earlier than others.
“I would probably have to prefer Option One,” Mayes said. “The only question is how do we keep people engaged?”
Mayes also said that he is working to create some end-of-year activity for seniors which will take place during the last week of school. Ideas he is considering include a senior walk through the school, a trip, and a program in which students can write thank-you notes to teachers.
“Our seniors have always had the issue where other schools get out like a ‘reward’, and ours haven’t,” Mayes said.
The end-of-year planning may be changed entirely, however, if the state legislator decides to excuse several of the county’s snow days. House Bills 383 and 410 both propose changes to the current JCPS schedule for the end of the year.
The SBDM council moved to push the decision forward to the April meeting in order to have time to consider the options and wait for a state decision on the bills. Currently, the last day of school for JCPS students is June 12th.
