Chenyao Liu

Principal Tim Phares flips through a binder with information about graduation. Phares said graduation is scheduled on the last day of school this year. “(Seniors are) just doing something a little different (on the last day),” he said. “You’re being required to be at graduation practice. You have a senior celebration in the morning that kicks off the day…And then you also have graduation that you got to be at that nobody else has to go to.”

According to Principal Tim Phares, seniors will have a different ACE schedule than other students. While freshmen, sophomore and juniors take their G3 and G4 ACE on May 25, seniors will be expected to take it on May 19. 

“We know the last day of school for students is the 25th. That’s also our contract day for graduation. The way the calendar aligns, we can’t have an ACE on the day when you’re going to be required to graduate or practice graduation,” he said. “So, we have bumped (ACE for seniors) up to the 19th, which is a Friday. Then, seniors would take their G3, G4 ACE.”

Teachers with students from multiple grades will be expected to provide ACE on the respective days, according to Phares.

“We’ve specifically defined that the only students that would be doing the ACE on (May 19) would be the seniors…If you’re in a class with multi-grade level students, they would still have their ACE on the 25th,” he said. “So, if you’re in a class with a junior, as a senior, you would be required to do the presentation, the project, whatever it is, you would turn it in or have it done on the 19th. If I’m a junior in that same class, I’m still held accountable to do it on the 25th.”

Senior Justine Wang, who takes AP U.S. History, a class mainly taken by juniors, said the schedule makes sense but feels strange. 

“It’s the final, so it’s a culmination of what you’ve been doing throughout the entire year, so honestly, five days—I don’t know how much of a big difference that’s going to make,” Wang said. “I feel like when the time comes, it’ll be more awkward because I’m like, ‘Well, now I got to do this thing, and you guys are going to be doing another thing.’” 

Math teacher Paige Wehr said she is still deciding what her students will be doing for their ACE, but that the new schedule should not have too much of an effect.

“The end of the year needs to be pretty flexible anyway, with junior and senior classes (and) all of the AP and IB testing that happens, so I’m not sure that (the new ACE schedule) is going to make a huge impact. The big thing that we’re concerned about is we’re not sure if we’re going to do a project or if we’re going to do another unit of curriculum,” Wehr said. “And that’s got to be a team decision, so that everyone’s doing the same thing, and we’re still working out the kinks on what that would look like.”

Ultimately, Phares said administration communicated with department chairs and participated in faculty meetings to determine the best schedule.

“We have to put out a schedule that we feel is just fair. It may not be the best, but it’s fair for the school and the student body,” he said. “There might be some logistics that change but right now, that’s how we set (ACE) up to be.”