Another summer is over, and another school year is already here for Walpole High School’s students and administration. Seniors are back for their final year, juniors and sophomores are back at it again, and freshman are here for their first year of high school. With a new year comes plenty of optimism and hope for the future, and Walpole high school is hoping that certain new schedule changes this year will pay off. They have a justified reason to be optimistic because this PLC schedule has the components it did not have last year. Mainly, what the new schedule has is consistency and clarity.
What is different about this year’s PLC program is that every tuesday this school year is a PLC day, rather than every other tuesday. Additionally, PLC’s time slot is from 1:37-2:05 p.m rather than in the morning like previous years. These changes of the PLC schedule have either been due to criticisms from students, parents, and teachers. These criticisms were justified, as last year’s PLC schedule was confusing for students and parents. The school did the best it could to communicate to its students, but the variation of each PLC day made it difficult for students to understand whether or not they should come into school late that day. Common questions among students were usually about what time PLC was or why we had PLC, but perhaps the most important ones for some students included: “Are they taking attendance? Will I get hours if I don’t show up?”.
Now, every PLC day a particular grade or group of students has to stay for PLC for important assemblies or meetings with guidance counselors/teachers. All other students are free to leave at 1:37 p.m if they can, which is great. Teachers often meet to discuss school related issues and to help stay on page with each other. Last year, teachers felt their time was restricted because they had a specific time slot before classes started. Now, they have until 1:37-2:05 p.m, and additional time after that if needed. This benefits teachers enormously because theyare not time restriced and are free to get to everything they need to cover. But how do the students feel about the new PLC schedule?
The answer to that question is very clear, unlike what PLC has been in past years. Students agree that this PLC schedule is easier to understand and has more upsides than ever before. Junior Steve Lynch agreed that PLC this year works for him, saying that “getting out of school earlier helps me because I can do homework before I take the bus to soccer practice”. What he is referring to is that little bit of extra time and freedom for everybody to do what they want and feel a little more relieved from the stress of school and extracurricular activities. This is extremely important for students, who often feel overwhelmed with the stresses of their every day lives. Additionally, other students who take a bus home that do not want to do homework feel the positive effects of the new PLC program. Junior Kevin Curran thinks that this PLC schedule works for everybody, because “upperclassman with cars can go home, and other people who have to stay can do homework or talk outside in front of the school with their friends”. Other than having to report to PLC that day, what is the downside to this new PLC program?
