Move BLS 2017 Finals a day early before final announcement
The Issue
Screen capture above is the June 2017 calendar of BLS as of April 3, 2017
-For Students-
SAVE BLS 2017 FINALS OR POOR GRADES FOR STUDENTS WILL RESULT.
#SaveBLS2017finals
-Petition-
Late on March 24, 2017, BLS silently posted the updated schedule for the 2017 Term IV Finals on the calendar of the BLS website. This schedule places Math and History Finals on Monday the 19th of June, Science and Modern Foreign Language Finals on the 20th, and English and Latin Finals on the 21st. This schedule has been recently updated to reflect snow days with Sixie Field Day on June 27th and Make-Up Finals through the 26th of June. However, the end of Term IV, and Extended Homeroom have been left behind. Not only that, but the ramifications this will create serious consequences and problems if we don’t get this fixed. If you look in the calendar, many events scheduled have no connection to one another and do not run smoothly.
First, before we really discuss this year, let’s discuss what happened with finals the years before. In 2014, Finals began on a Monday, extended homeroom wasn’t a thing so there was 1 less distraction. Bunker Hill day bought students some time to study for finals so there was no need for cramming over the weekend. Finals finished on Thursday the 19th so families with summer vacation plans were probably OK with waiting for the weekend. In 2015 was the 1st year with a Friday start to finals and the use of an adapted schedule for finals to minimize cramming over the weekend. Science and M.F.L. finals were scheduled to occur last so this was particularly useful for grades 7 and 8. 2016 continued the use of this adapted schedule. The lack of many snow days as well as finishing on a Thursday combined allowed finals to flow efficiently and worryless. 2017 removes the Science and M.F.L finals only to break up the consistant last 2 years. So grades 7 and 8 are left to “waste” time while waiting in homeroom. They could clean out lockers early this year but how would they be able to study for finals? Before they cleared lockers last day so there was no worry for finals, but that is only the start of this dilemma.
Next, an email was sent out to parents of BLS students regarding how far finals may be pushed back. Before our 5 snow days, June 21st was scheduled as a half day. Many parents received the emails stating that finals will NOT be pushed past June 21. The parents saw this email and noted the half day on June 21st, they went in and scheduled their Summer vacations plans. They likely cared less about finals on a FULL day of school. I know a anonymous student whom has a 7 hour flight out of Logan airport at 3:45pm, June 21. He is now forced to deal with the daunting task of getting his Latin final done earlier. This leads up to the next issue that interlinks all of this together.
Extended Homeroom,, how lovely it might be to schedule this on FRIDAY June 16th. Had we not have snow days, this would happen AFTER finals. Now it happens before finals, and students who are trying to move their Latin final won't be able to do this on this day. So they would have to do the Latin final on June 15th, giving up valuable learning time just to let Community Building Portraits get it's way. Not only this, but the problem with these extended homerooms is that the morning classes are cut short. This gets in the way of students trying to review for Finals. They could have 31 minutes in an R4 AP Economics class to review for that final while having 50 minutes in R5 to study for the Greek Final. They might had to do this final on the 15th of June, because they would miss the Classics final just to get through Logan Airport security checkpoints by 3:20pm and traffic on Storrow Drive attempting to reach the Callahan tunnel to even get to the Aiport. See, that’s 2 examples of loss of learning time.
That’s only the start of extended homeroom, we also have the class of 2022 Sixie Field Day. Although the vast majority of the class of 2021 saw this as a ripoff taking over 1st Lunch. It can be argued that Sixie Field Day IS COMMUNITY BUILDING. Students are divided into teams to compete in outdoor activities as “a fun way to kick off Summer”. By moving Finals one day earlier, we can move Extended Homeroom to June 21st, if we also move Sixie Field Day to the 21st of June with the shift. Then we can increase learning time, and we can also increase the time spent community building as the Class of 2022 earns ¾ of R4 to spend on community building. More students are likely to show up to school on this day, more students in the Class of 2022 Sixie Yearbook picture. And we can work on community building without worrying about what we need to study for Finals. Because the extended homeroom is only in the morning, students can still get an early dismissal pass at 10:33 and not miss the community building homeroom.
Speaking of extra learning time, you might quickly ask, “How does moving Finals 1 day EARLY INCREASE learning time?” First off, because Finals are out of the way of Summer vacation plans, students have no need to reschedule their Latin final. So they do not have to take June 15th off from learning to do the final. You also get more time to study for Finals. If ALL of finals are right off from the weekend of June 17-18, You have to cram 6 subject’s worth of 1 year of learning into the weekend. You were also distracted from that extended homeroom so you also need extra time to get back into focus. Plus, it’s the weekend, you might be preparing for your flight so you do not have the entire weekend. By starting finals on the 16th, you have the workweek to study for 2 of your finals, the weekend to study for the next 2 of your finals, and Monday night to study for the last set of finals (only 1 if Grade 7 or 8). You can study stress free PLUS distraction free. Because it’s June, the sun stays up later and it might be hot and humid out. So, finishing finals 1 day earlier, is 1 less day of sweating in school and being unable to focus because you ARE SWEATING. Plus, you are not worrying about catching that flight to Logan during your English Final.
Also, one more note, because Boston Public Schools is among the last school districts to get out, several school districts that end earlier might be worrisome to some parents whom have relatives and cousins whom get out of school early. By shifting finals a day early, parents have 1 less day to worry about this issue. They can instead have a few hours to prepare for summer. BLS students can safely begin their summer camp and summer jobs on time without missing day 1. Not only the students benefit but also BLS Masters can also safely grade student’s finals on time for the 7:35AM June 26th deadline. This is also because we shift make up finals to wrap up on the 23rd. If we have make up finals during the school day on June 26, and grades are due at 7:35AM, how are you going to grade make up finals? Just 1 day gives you the entire weekend to grade finals.
The students will no longer be forced to stay after school on June 21st to clean out lockers, nurse medications, or buy Summer T passes. If they do, then they would have to go through the pain of looking for a way home, or give up the 22nd to come back after the deadline and find that all their belongings or medications gone because they missed the deadline. Under the new schedule, they can clean out lockers during the class periods on the 21st and have the option to stay after school on the 20th as well, but there's no rush because most of the 21st is now usable to clean out lockers. 30 minutes of R4 is still plenty of time to clear out lockers. There is less rush to meet the deadline because they had after school the day before and the 21st. Students can also get a pass to Ms. Webb to pay for summer T passes any class period the day rather than be forced after school the only day because of finals.
NEW INTENDED SCHEDULE
JUNE 15, REGULAR SCHOOL DAY
JUNE 16, MATH R2, HISTORY R6 FINALS
JUNE 19 ENGLISH R2, CLASSICS R6 FINALS
JUNE 20 SCIENCE R2, M.F.L. R6 FINALS
JUNE 21, EXTENDED HOMEROOM, SIXIE FIELD DAY, MAKE UP MATH+HISTORY FINALS
JUNE 22, MAKE UP ENGLISH+CLASSICS FINALS
JUNE 23, MAKE UP SCIENCE+M.F.L. FINALS
JUNE 26, GRADES DUE BY 7:35AM
Petition Closed
The Issue
Screen capture above is the June 2017 calendar of BLS as of April 3, 2017
-For Students-
SAVE BLS 2017 FINALS OR POOR GRADES FOR STUDENTS WILL RESULT.
#SaveBLS2017finals
-Petition-
Late on March 24, 2017, BLS silently posted the updated schedule for the 2017 Term IV Finals on the calendar of the BLS website. This schedule places Math and History Finals on Monday the 19th of June, Science and Modern Foreign Language Finals on the 20th, and English and Latin Finals on the 21st. This schedule has been recently updated to reflect snow days with Sixie Field Day on June 27th and Make-Up Finals through the 26th of June. However, the end of Term IV, and Extended Homeroom have been left behind. Not only that, but the ramifications this will create serious consequences and problems if we don’t get this fixed. If you look in the calendar, many events scheduled have no connection to one another and do not run smoothly.
First, before we really discuss this year, let’s discuss what happened with finals the years before. In 2014, Finals began on a Monday, extended homeroom wasn’t a thing so there was 1 less distraction. Bunker Hill day bought students some time to study for finals so there was no need for cramming over the weekend. Finals finished on Thursday the 19th so families with summer vacation plans were probably OK with waiting for the weekend. In 2015 was the 1st year with a Friday start to finals and the use of an adapted schedule for finals to minimize cramming over the weekend. Science and M.F.L. finals were scheduled to occur last so this was particularly useful for grades 7 and 8. 2016 continued the use of this adapted schedule. The lack of many snow days as well as finishing on a Thursday combined allowed finals to flow efficiently and worryless. 2017 removes the Science and M.F.L finals only to break up the consistant last 2 years. So grades 7 and 8 are left to “waste” time while waiting in homeroom. They could clean out lockers early this year but how would they be able to study for finals? Before they cleared lockers last day so there was no worry for finals, but that is only the start of this dilemma.
Next, an email was sent out to parents of BLS students regarding how far finals may be pushed back. Before our 5 snow days, June 21st was scheduled as a half day. Many parents received the emails stating that finals will NOT be pushed past June 21. The parents saw this email and noted the half day on June 21st, they went in and scheduled their Summer vacations plans. They likely cared less about finals on a FULL day of school. I know a anonymous student whom has a 7 hour flight out of Logan airport at 3:45pm, June 21. He is now forced to deal with the daunting task of getting his Latin final done earlier. This leads up to the next issue that interlinks all of this together.
Extended Homeroom,, how lovely it might be to schedule this on FRIDAY June 16th. Had we not have snow days, this would happen AFTER finals. Now it happens before finals, and students who are trying to move their Latin final won't be able to do this on this day. So they would have to do the Latin final on June 15th, giving up valuable learning time just to let Community Building Portraits get it's way. Not only this, but the problem with these extended homerooms is that the morning classes are cut short. This gets in the way of students trying to review for Finals. They could have 31 minutes in an R4 AP Economics class to review for that final while having 50 minutes in R5 to study for the Greek Final. They might had to do this final on the 15th of June, because they would miss the Classics final just to get through Logan Airport security checkpoints by 3:20pm and traffic on Storrow Drive attempting to reach the Callahan tunnel to even get to the Aiport. See, that’s 2 examples of loss of learning time.
That’s only the start of extended homeroom, we also have the class of 2022 Sixie Field Day. Although the vast majority of the class of 2021 saw this as a ripoff taking over 1st Lunch. It can be argued that Sixie Field Day IS COMMUNITY BUILDING. Students are divided into teams to compete in outdoor activities as “a fun way to kick off Summer”. By moving Finals one day earlier, we can move Extended Homeroom to June 21st, if we also move Sixie Field Day to the 21st of June with the shift. Then we can increase learning time, and we can also increase the time spent community building as the Class of 2022 earns ¾ of R4 to spend on community building. More students are likely to show up to school on this day, more students in the Class of 2022 Sixie Yearbook picture. And we can work on community building without worrying about what we need to study for Finals. Because the extended homeroom is only in the morning, students can still get an early dismissal pass at 10:33 and not miss the community building homeroom.
Speaking of extra learning time, you might quickly ask, “How does moving Finals 1 day EARLY INCREASE learning time?” First off, because Finals are out of the way of Summer vacation plans, students have no need to reschedule their Latin final. So they do not have to take June 15th off from learning to do the final. You also get more time to study for Finals. If ALL of finals are right off from the weekend of June 17-18, You have to cram 6 subject’s worth of 1 year of learning into the weekend. You were also distracted from that extended homeroom so you also need extra time to get back into focus. Plus, it’s the weekend, you might be preparing for your flight so you do not have the entire weekend. By starting finals on the 16th, you have the workweek to study for 2 of your finals, the weekend to study for the next 2 of your finals, and Monday night to study for the last set of finals (only 1 if Grade 7 or 8). You can study stress free PLUS distraction free. Because it’s June, the sun stays up later and it might be hot and humid out. So, finishing finals 1 day earlier, is 1 less day of sweating in school and being unable to focus because you ARE SWEATING. Plus, you are not worrying about catching that flight to Logan during your English Final.
Also, one more note, because Boston Public Schools is among the last school districts to get out, several school districts that end earlier might be worrisome to some parents whom have relatives and cousins whom get out of school early. By shifting finals a day early, parents have 1 less day to worry about this issue. They can instead have a few hours to prepare for summer. BLS students can safely begin their summer camp and summer jobs on time without missing day 1. Not only the students benefit but also BLS Masters can also safely grade student’s finals on time for the 7:35AM June 26th deadline. This is also because we shift make up finals to wrap up on the 23rd. If we have make up finals during the school day on June 26, and grades are due at 7:35AM, how are you going to grade make up finals? Just 1 day gives you the entire weekend to grade finals.
The students will no longer be forced to stay after school on June 21st to clean out lockers, nurse medications, or buy Summer T passes. If they do, then they would have to go through the pain of looking for a way home, or give up the 22nd to come back after the deadline and find that all their belongings or medications gone because they missed the deadline. Under the new schedule, they can clean out lockers during the class periods on the 21st and have the option to stay after school on the 20th as well, but there's no rush because most of the 21st is now usable to clean out lockers. 30 minutes of R4 is still plenty of time to clear out lockers. There is less rush to meet the deadline because they had after school the day before and the 21st. Students can also get a pass to Ms. Webb to pay for summer T passes any class period the day rather than be forced after school the only day because of finals.
NEW INTENDED SCHEDULE
JUNE 15, REGULAR SCHOOL DAY
JUNE 16, MATH R2, HISTORY R6 FINALS
JUNE 19 ENGLISH R2, CLASSICS R6 FINALS
JUNE 20 SCIENCE R2, M.F.L. R6 FINALS
JUNE 21, EXTENDED HOMEROOM, SIXIE FIELD DAY, MAKE UP MATH+HISTORY FINALS
JUNE 22, MAKE UP ENGLISH+CLASSICS FINALS
JUNE 23, MAKE UP SCIENCE+M.F.L. FINALS
JUNE 26, GRADES DUE BY 7:35AM
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Petition created on April 3, 2017