The high school has implemented a new bell schedule this year and expanded early dismissal/late arrival policies for students.
Principal Jason Caudill said the new bell schedule consists of shorter passing periods and assigning a period number to lunch. He explained converting the middle and high school to an eight period schedule by giving lunch a period would be advantageous for members of both schools.
“One of things that we wanted to do was better align the middle school/high school schedule both for staff and for the students who maybe are on both,” he said.
He explained the change was implemented to help ease the transition of new students entering the high school. While people who have been in Bexley for a long time were used to not having lunch as a scheduled period, new students were confused by this arrangement, he said. This led to misunderstandings around where lunch was in relation to the rest of the schedule, he added.
The shortening of passing periods had a more corrective goal, Caudill explained.
“When we looked at our discipline data, time in the hallways was one of our opportunities for improvement, so we looked at shortening that,” he said.
Junior Hadley Langolf said she experiences drawbacks from the new schedule daily.
“I don’t like the shortening of passing periods since I use it as a time to talk to people I don’t have classes with or go to the bathroom,” she explained. “I find myself rushing most days to get to class.”
Caudill explained there may be changes to the schedule based on what the administration finds is the most sensible way of utilizing time. He added they don’t plan to make any changes for next year and that this is a continuous project.
“This is the plan for now,” he said. “If we think there’s a better thing to do, then we’ll do a better thing.”
For early dismissal/late arrival, Assistant Principal Kristen Kearns explained a student must have a 3.5 GPA from the previous quarter to fill out the application. She added the privilege can be rescinded if a student’s grades fall.
Caudill added that a student must not have any discipline referrals or a large number of absences, and a parent must sign off on the request.
“If you’re doing the things you’re supposed to be doing, then that’s a privilege that you have shown us you can handle the responsibility for,” he said. “If you don’t need to be here, we shouldn’t put a study hall in your schedule.”
Kearns said the hardest part about implementing these policies is students who are granted late arrival/early dismissal can’t remain in the high school even if they want to.
“If you qualify for that and you apply for it, then the expectation is you’re not on campus,” she said. “It’s a safety issue. If you’re not on anybody’s roster but you’re in the building, then you’re unaccounted for.”
Science teacher Scott Logsdon said the high school has a history with early dismissal/late arrival in the past 20 years. He said some of the positives of the program include letting students who work or have practices leave to take part in those activities.
However, there are also negatives involved with early dismissal/late arriva, Logsdon notedl.
“If we have a person that is coming in later and leaving early but is still struggling in their classes…I think that’s been kind of hard to manage,” Logsdon said.
He explained that a study hall is where students can get help from teachers, so if they are not in the building for their study hall it can be hard for them to succeed.
While the decisions on these issues have been by administration in the past, Caudill added he hopes to keep students involved in the process for future decisions regarding these issues.
“A big part of helping kids be successful in school is listening to them and not just doing what we think is best, but keeping that conversation going,” he said.
