The Newtonite v Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019 • Volume 97
Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
Chromebook rollout expands student access to technology Jacques Abou-Rizk Over the last few weeks, sophomores at both North and South have received Lenovo 300e Chromebooks to use at home and in the classroom as part of the Newton Public Schools (NPS) “1:1 Technology Program.” The touchscreen, water-resistant laptops are intended to give all students equal access to technology and to simplify technology-based assignments and class activities. Instructional technology specialist Chris Murphy, who oversaw the distribution of the Chromebooks in all sophomore math classes, hopes that the laptops can help students learn in many new ways. “The new computers are connecting to the network nicely,” Murphy said. “I hope this will help both teachers and students benefit from the program.” The program, according to sophomore Arsema Kifle, is going to give equal opportunity to all students. “It’s a good resource to have, especially in class,” Kifle said. “If you don’t have a computer at home it can be really helpful.” The downside is having to bring the laptop to and from school every day, Kifle added. Many students who already have their own laptop, like sophoby
more Bruce Burba, however, said they will not benefit from the program. “I’m excited to learn more about Chromebooks,” Burba said. “But I have my own MacBook so I’m not sure I’ll use the Chromebook that much.” Sophomore Adriana Cedrone said that in the first few weeks of having her new laptop, she has found it beneficial. “I had my sophomore seminar today and we had to use the Chromebooks, and I found it very helpful,” Cedrone said. However, Cedrone is also concerned that the laptops might be susceptible to damage for students who take their backpacks to sports games and on buses. Sophomore math teacher Caroline Vuilleumier, who teaches three sophomore classes, said she is excited to use the Chromebooks in class and hopes they will save class time and aid students in their day-to-day learning. “With the Chromebook cart, it’s hard to sign them out when you need them,” Vuilleumier said. “The computer carts aren’t always available and at least now, knowing my students have laptops, it won’t force me to waste ten minutes at the beginning of class trying to get a cart.”
The program is an expansion of the pilot that took place last year with several junior classes, including the American Studies course, taught by English teacher Kate Shaughnessy. “They used our class as a sort of try-out of the program,” Shaughnessy said. “MacBook Airs were given to us in the first semester and Chromebooks in the second semester, and their goal was to try different devices to see which one worked and to get student feedback.” Principal Henry Turner added that the Chromebooks this year are expected to stay with the sophomores throughout the summer and their junior and senior years. “The rationale is that we are giving them to the grades where there is going to be MCAS,” Turner said. “MCAS is going to be online starting this year for sophomores, on their Chromebooks, and next year, for freshmen and sophomores. But we also want students to be prepared for some of the advantages that technology can provide.” According to the NPS website, the Chromebooks will make it easier for students and teachers to troubleshoot. The website also said that the laptops will provide access to technology on demand in the classroom at all times.
Julia Bu
Junior Khalil Lofton shoots a lay-up during warm-ups for a game against Natick Tuesday, Jan. 8. “There were times where I would say ‘open up Schoology,’ and the students could take out the laptops and open it up really
quick,” Shaughnessy said. “Small tasks that I would never take out a computer cart for. It was really helpful.”
Focus groups collect feedback on prototype schedules Amy Xue Focus groups at North and South met recently to collect student responses as a part of the feedback stage for three new prototype schedules for the two schools. Each aims to address problems with the current schedule, such as irregular end times, students’ social-emotional health, transportation for Metropolitan Council for Educatioanal Opportunity (METCO) students, and limited academic support opportunities. A working group, including principal Henry Turner, vice principal Amy Winston, South principal Joel Stembridge, teachers from both schools, and district representatives designed the schedules. The prototypes were created in response to the School Committee’s attempt to institute later start times. In 2015, the School Committee created the High School Start Time (HSST) working group to look into high school start times. Studies showed that students suffer from insufficient sleep, and that early start times disrupt normal teen circadian rhythms. The committee decided to move start times later for the high schools. To facilitate later start times, the committee has chosen to rework the schedule altogether. During the process of moving back start times, the committee suggested keeping the current block schedule, while pushing the start and end times later. However, students, teachers, and community members expressed concerns that by
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later end times would interfere with students’ after-school activities and parents’ schedules. Sophomore Sydney Morgan, who is part of the METCO program, said, “I think we’d all like the later start times, except I’d get home very late if the school day ended later. By late, I mean like eight o’clock.” In the winter of 2017, the committee decided to move forward in drafting a new schedule instead of reworking the old one. According to School Committee member Ruth Goldman, the group found that to start high school later while still ending at the same time, the school day had to be more “efficient.” The three new schedules will all feature a “flex block,” which is similar to X-block but in the middle of the day. They each have a different rotation of classes, based on a fiveday, six-day, or seven-day schedule.
The prototypes have longer, more infrequent blocks and a shorter 6.5 hour schedule per day. Some students said they felt that the rotational six or seven day schedules were a step in the wrong direction. “Only one of the proposed schedules that I looked at was a five-day set schedule rather than a rotation. I felt that the best change from the Day Middle School schedule to the North schedule was the set days since it made knowing which classes you have the next day easier,” said sophomore Jocelyn Sun. According to Turner, a problem with the current schedule is finding time for academic support because there are only two X-blocks per week, and many students have commitments after school or would rather go home early. “I think it’s really hard for ath-
letes to use X-block because of games and there are definitely times where students may be avoiding teachers, but ‘flex block’ would be able to help with those problems,” said Turner. “Having more ‘flex blocks’ would actually help students to get their work done.” The “flex block” is a period built into the schedule to allow students to meet with teachers, do homework, and have club meetings, among other possibilities. Other Massachusetts high schools such as Lexington High School and Brookline High School have successfully utilized this idea. “I loved the idea of having a ‘flex block’ in the middle of the day because it gives clubs a time to meet, and also it gives people time during the day to take a break if you don’t have a free in your schedule,” said senior Dominion Emmanuel. The new schedules also have
The three proposed prototype schedules, one of which may be implemented as early as fall of 2020.
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more long blocks, but they occur less often. “The current schedule and the amount of classes per day makes me a little bit stressed. I would prefer longer classes but less classes per day,” said sophomore Emily Huang. Emmanuel added that longer blocks would be beneficial to teachers, particularly those who teach AP classes. “I liked the idea of having fewer classes with longer blocks because our schedule now, with the five-day schedule, moves from class to class very fast and sometimes teachers don’t have enough time.” Some teachers, however, expressed concerns about the added stress of multiple long blocks. According to chemistry teacher Tatyana Osipenko, “Longer blocks are helpful, but I’m not a big fan of having a lot of them during the week. I feel like if the block is longer, students will have to get a lot more material, so there would be more homework.” Junior Dina Gorelik added that the longer blocks themselves could also be an additional source of stress. In the prototype schedules, “all the blocks are longer and I can barely handle one long block in each class. I can’t imagine having more of them every day,” she said. One concern about the prototypes has been the shortened school days. Instead of an average day of seven hours with North’s current schedule—which is longer than those of neighboring districts—the proposals average 6.5 hours per day.
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