Perhaps it can be said that the biggest event of the year was a radical readjustment to the way the middle of it played out.

This year, the school debuted a new finals schedule, with first semester finals being pushed forward to precede winter break, and two weeks of first semester following the break before the transition into second semester.

Overall, students reacted positively to the change. According to a Forest Scout survey that was given immediately following the beginning of second semester, 88.5% of students felt favorable about the change, with nearly 50% reacting strongly in favor.

It seems that students enjoyed the new schedule’s assistance toward the winter break experience.

“This change really allowed students to enjoy their well earned break without finals looming over it” junior Ian Shuler said.

Teachers were less enthusiastic about the change. They were split evenly, according to a survey given to teachers by the administration.

Biology and Anatomy teacher Jennifer Gatta said the change was beneficial for students. “Overall, I think the students enjoyed the pure fact that they didn’t have to think about finals over break”.

Despite these statements that students enjoyed their break without finals, students were much less solidified on the specific decision to shut down PowerSchool during the break.

“It was awesome to have finals over break and actually be able to relax over the break, but not being able to see my grades for the few finals that didn’t go in before the PowerSchool closing stressed me out. I like finals before break, but I would prefer PowerSchool be open” junior Jane Mockus said.

When asked about the preparation for finals in the week prior, many students reacted negatively. They said teachers were rushing to finish the content.

“It was really frustrating because teachers would not review and have test and quizzes up until the day before our final. When finals were after break, we would have the entire week before to prep for it” senior Georgia O’Neill said.

Many students attributed this frustration – on the week before finals – towards the struggles teachers had in adapting to an entirely new system, with 86.4% of survey responses stating that teacher planning was the main cause of negative reactions toward the week prior to finals.

Again, this was recognized by teachers and staff, with some optimism toward future midterm finals cycles

“My one concern was that the week before finals, students seemed more stressed than normal because teachers were still trying to figure things out” said Gatta, “Next year will most likely be better as teachers will get into a rhythm with the new schedule.”

The 340 students who took the survey reacted positively (58.5%) to the new system of four days in the week, with two finals each day, as opposed to three days, three finals each. Additionally, 60.3% of students were apathetic and not opposed to giving up the ability the prior schedule gave to students – switching finals periods around.

Perhaps the most debated aspect of the new system, however, was the strongest division over the semester transition, which had a very thin favorable majority of 52.3% on the survey.

These divided opinions brought a variety of perspectives on the way first semester should change over to second in the future.

“I personally did not like the fact that the first semester continues after finals by two weeks–I think that the fact that students have exams after their finals are completed is quite odd, and, honestly, doesn’t make sense” sophomore Grant Huebner said, “I believe that the 1st semester should be officially shortened by two weeks–ends when the finals are completed.”

Some students argued otherwise, stating that an earlier school start time was the necessary solution,

“Sooner or later, we ought to bite the bullet, and finally decide to start school earlier so that the semester ends before break” senior Ryan Eleveld said.

While next school year is scheduled to start the same time as this year, the 2020-21 school year may start a week earlier.

“Having all teachers on the same page in terms of starting the next semester or ending the first semester coming back would be better” Gatta said, “I teach a semester course but am certainly willing to conform and adjust as long as we are all on the same page, and I have no doubt that [the administration] will do what is best in terms of improvement”

This reflection seems to be representative of the faculty and staff as a whole. According to the administration’s survey, the majority of faculty members liked the new timing of final exams overall. Parents also echoed this sentiment.

Once again similar to student reaction, faculty and parents both reported to the survey that there was a lot of tests and quizzes as opposed to review in the period before final exams.

Student conclusions also seem to be resonant at the administrative level going into planning for the future. In a presentation given by principal Chala Holland to the faculty via email, conclusions were reached based on the data gathered among students, parents, and staff alike.

“As with any change, you learn the most through the implementation process.” Holland said, “Overall, the change was very positive. The feedback that has been provided by all stakeholder groups will be closely evaluated and we will continue to collaborate with our faculty, students, and parents to improve and build upon the successes from this year.”