May 27 is still a school day where attendance is expected, according to administrators

By Natalie Maier
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Although May 27 is now a mandatory school day, senior Monica Rice said she does not plan to attend her classes. Like many seniors who will have gone through the commencement ceremony on May 26, Rice said she does not understand why she should go to school if she has already graduated.

“I feel like it’s pointless to go if I have already graduated. I’m not planning on going to school that day, because I heard there is no penalty,” Rice said.

According to Assistant Principal Doug Bird, the multiple changes to the finals week schedule- including the addition of a “Green Day” on May 27- are due to the snow days and the availability of the Pepsi Coliseum, which is the location of the graduation ceremony. According to Bird, the administration also wanted to give students an additional day to get feedback from their teachers.

May 27, the Friday after students complete their final exams, is considered a Green Day, which means students will attend Blue and Gold Day classes for a period of about 30 minutes each.

Bird confirmed Rice’s suspicion that there is no academic penalty for absences on the Green Day, but he said it is still a required school day and the administration expects all students to be in attendance.

Bird said the schedule has been a little confusing. “As the year got bumped, we had to make adjustments,” he said. “And with more discussions about Class Day, we wanted to keep it during the traditional SRT period, so we changed the date of Class Day.”

With the changes to the finals week schedule, Class Day is now Monday, and maintains the tradition of having students leave during SRT to go to the football stadium. Class Day honors the graduating senior class and acknowledges the current juniors who will be seniors during the 2011-2012 school year.

Scheduling changes were based in part on the availability of the Pepsi Coliseum, where the graduation ceremony is conducted. Bird said the administration’s initial concern was having multiple days of school after graduation. By moving graduation to Thursday, Bird said this concern was reduced.

Even though some students may not understand the reasoning of attending school after they have taken their final exams, sophomore Natalie Saliba said she likes the updated schedule. Saliba said, “I actually like this new schedule better because we do get to go to school after the finals. And this way, we get to see our friends that week without being all stressed over grades.”

Bird said, “Since we had different schedules this year, the last day provides an opportunity where teachers could provide feedback about finals to students. We (the administration thinks) this is a good way to provide teachers with one more chance to share insight before summer.”

Bird said that with classes that require knowledge that builds year after year, such as math, this feedback is important.

Saliba said she plans to take advantage of the opportunity to receive feedback from her teachers. “It’s definitely a good idea. Teachers will get a chance to grade the tests and then maybe show us what we got in the class.”

Despite the changes, Bird said he thinks the student body will respond positively.

“I think students will be fine. They roll with whatever is going on, and they will learn the changes and prepare for their exams,” Bird said. “We still spread finals over the week, so no day is too packed with exams. If we can make it so they don’t have finals after graduation, it’s best.”