By Grayson Harbour
<[email protected]>

Despite this school’s Skip-a-Final program, sophomore Rossie Nho cannot skip any of her finals this semester.  And she said she’s not happy about that situation. “It is unfair, and I don’t like it,” she said.  “Why is the program even in place if I can’t skip any of my finals?”

Nho is one of a growing number of students here who can skip few if any finals, as more teachers take away the option for a variety of reasons.

Teachers in the English department, for example, do not let their students skip finals because those exams provide the teachers with valuable data on how they’re teaching and how they can improve. Other teachers said they choose not to let their students skip their finals because they feel the exam reinforces all the concepts students have learned in the past semester, while others said they simply do not like the program.

English teacher Linda Johnson said she would not allow her students to skip the finals she gives even if the department gave its approval.

She said, “I do not feel that students should be allowed to skip their finals. Even if the English department allowed me to let the students skip the final, I wouldn’t. I simply do not believe in it. The only time I feel the Skip-a-Final policy is justified is perhaps allowing seniors to skip their second semester finals.”

On the other hand, Spanish teacher Rhonda Trapkus said she, like most of the other Spanish teachers, allows students to skip her final.

“When Skip-a-Final first started, we as a Spanish department decided that, since Spanish is an elective, we should give the kids a break and allow them to skip their finals,” Trapkus said. “As the program has progressed, we still feel that way, and I think that as long as a student is maintaining a C+ average or better, they should be allowed to skip their final.”

According to Assistant Principal Amy Skeens-Benton, who brought the program to Carmel from her former teaching job at Lawrence Central High School, Skip-a-Final started about 10 years ago. Its intention, she said, was to create an incentive for students to maintain a high attendance rate. The school board voted in favor of a policy that allowed students who met attendance and grade requirements to skip one final per semester. However, the policy stated it was at each teacher’s discretion to allow students to skip their finals.

Despite the mixed reactions from teachers, Principal John Williams said the administration has “absolutely no plans to change or eliminate the Skip-a-Final program for next semester or the foreseeable future.

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End-of-Semester Finals Schedule

Dec. 16: Periods 5, 7, 6 and 8
Dec. 17: Periods 1 and 2
Dec. 18: Periods 3 and 4

Don’t Get Lazy

Even if you qualify for Skip-A-Final on Dec. 11, you must maintain your eligibility before you take all your finals.

SKIP-A-FINAL APPLICATION / SOURCE