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HOPKINTON INDEPENDENT Vol. 20 | No. 9 | April 17, 2019
Changes ahead for HHS schedule
Off and running
Administration seeks to alleviate stress with more flex periods By Melissa Orff Contributing Writer
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PHOTO/TRICIA LACASCIA PHOTOGRAPHY
Runners head down Route 135 in Hopkinton at the start of the 123rd Boston Marathon on April 15. Additional marathon photos on pages 12 and 13.
Järvinen family embraces journey from Finland to Hopkinton Nature lovers all, the Järvinen family take great pleasure in walking the trails in Old Town Naantali, swimming at area beaches and eating locally.
By Deborah Burke Henderson Contributing Writer
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Järvinen family | 11
PHOTO/JARNO TERHO
lthough the Järvinen family had talked about the possibility of an intercontinental move for several years, they were not totally sure what to expect or how smoothly such a transition might go. Still, when the career opportunity arose for Henna Järvinen to direct and manage the Hopkinton-based diagnostics department of PerkinElmer, Inc., the American medical device company she works for in Turku, Finland, the family traveled the 4,861 miles (by air) from their cozy home in scenic Naantali and began the journey of
opkinton High School will be making some changes next year, ones that school officials hope will have an effect on students’ social and emotional well-being. During the March 28 School Committee meeting, HHS principal Evan Bishop presented a proposal on phasedin changes to the school schedule. “It’s a topic we have been talking about since 2005 … asking ourselves, does our current schedule meet the needs of our students and staff?” Bishop said. It became a major focus this year, however, after representatives from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) visited and came back with some feedback about anxiety levels at the school. “They noted how stressed the students and staff are,” Bishop said. “Students are saying there is very little downtime during the day, and that they are feeling overwhelmed and overbooked.” Social/emotional learning already was a focus for the school this year with the addition of homework-free weekends, mindfulness sessions in classes and movement breaks. Officials then decided to re-examine the schedule to build in more time to alleviate stressors. “One of the things we learned [from the teachers] was the value in building relationships with students,” said Bishop, noting that those relationships are hard to build during the half-year schedule that is in place at the high school now. Results of a survey sent to students and staff also revealed that there was significant interest in adding a flex-block period, with 61 percent of students and 44 percent of staff stating that was the No. 1 change they would like to see in the schedule. Bishop told the School Committee that after working with teachers, HHS schedule | 20
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