The Newtonite v Monday, Sept. 23, 2019 • Volume 98
Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
New absence rules Tiger values come through target ‘unhealthy’ in Designs’ hallway mural culture of skipping David Feng When tests, quizzes, and essay deadlines rapidly approach, students feeling unprepared for class might be tempted to ask their parents to call them out of that single dreaded block. However, a new policy now requires students excused from a single block to have a doctor’s note to prove their whereabouts. The new policy, which went into effect with the start of this school year, applies to all students called out of a single block other than the first or last block of the day. If a student does not provide a doctor’s note for the single block absence, the absence will be marked as unexcused. “There was an unhealthy culture that developed,” said Adams House dean David Turcotte during the senior assembly Tuesday, Sept. 10. “But we’re not looking to revolutionize our absence policy.” According to Beals House dean Scott Heslin, faculty brought up the new policy idea last year after many teachers noticed students being excused, or excusing themselves, more often to finish an incomplete assignment or prepare for an assessment. “A lot of seniors would call the office themselves, because when you’re 18 you can dismiss yourself,” said Heslin. “I would be walking around the halls and I would say, ‘hey, you just called the office and said you’re dismissing yourself, what are you doing here?’ And they would say, ‘oh I need to get ready for a test I have next period.’ That’s not okay.” The faculty reported an increase in students being dismissed for a single block in the middle of the day in order to avoid an assessment, according to Turcotte. by
“The faculty expressed concerns to the administration that they had observed that on days when they were giving tests, absenteeism increased greatly,” he said. Turcotte added that the house administrative assistants who take phone calls from families also described an increase in the number of students who were excused from a single class in the middle of the school day last year. Senior Orest Ormenaj said he was upset with the new policy because of how it may affect the relationship between teachers and students. “I don’t think the new policy is that smart of an idea because I get the teachers want validity with what their students say and don’t want them cutting class, but if they’re over 18, I feel like there should be a mutual trust between teacher and student,” said Ormenaj. He added that many teachers already have a policy for cutting class on a test day. “I’ve had friends of friends that have done it, and it’s definitely present, but there’s a reason why teachers have on their syllabi that if you cut class on the day of a quiz or test you would get a zero on it, which I think is a fair policy,” he said. However, Senior Kaiwen Li said that although the new policy will likely create problems for some students, it’s still a good idea to help avoid cheating. “It might be bad if the person needs to go somewhere other than the doctor’s,” Li said. “But other than that it shouldn’t really be an issue, since it’s not that hard to get a doctor’s note if there is an actual appointment.” Junior Oscar Pontiff agreed that the rule will help teachers and the administration minimize the op-
Sophia Zhou Seniors Michael Coscione, Daniela Divo, and Sophia Wax stroll past the new 2D mural prototype on Main Street Tuesday, Sept. 17. The project began in 2017 when principal Henry Turner asked for an art installation symbolizing North values. Members of the design Major II and III classes have spent the last two years working on the mural. Although originally set to be finished last year, the concept for the project became “bigger and stronger” than expected, said Design and Visual Communications teacher Sue Brooks. She added that work for the 3D prototype is currently underway. portunities students have to avoid a deadline. “I think it’s fair. Kids shouldn’t be able to bend the rules and have their parents assist them so that they can choose when they want to take a test,” Pontiff said. “It’s a lot easier to convince your parents to assist you academically than it is to ask a doctor.” English teacher Peter Goddard shared his frustration regarding unprepared students missing class.
“It just felt to me there was an unwillingness to face things that you don’t always want to face,” said Goddard. He added that students in every grade seemed to be following in the footsteps of older seniors. “It’s trickled down to younger grades, so now you have people who aren’t 18 who are calling their parents and saying ‘can you call me out of this class?’ And they’re doing it,” Goddard said. “It’s been a
growing problem, its gradually gotten bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and I’m glad they’re addressing it,” he added. According to Turcotte, the new policy is meant to brace students for life after North. “Sometimes you aren’t as prepared as you want to be for the important things in life,” he said during the senior assembly. “That’s the why. We want to prepare you for life.”
Shorter first term aims to tackle seniors’ college stress Sophie Murthy and David Ren Minimizing stress on seniors filling out college applications is the reason term one, which will end Oct. 25, has been reduced to eight weeks, according to school administrators. After studying the problem for the past year, the administration decided to end the first term a week earlier than in previous years to benefit seniors applying to college Early Decision or Early Action. The early date also ensures that the main office is able to send transcripts to colleges before the deadline. Vice principal Amy Winston said, “We have received feedback from seniors, and they have mentioned that having the last week of the term coinciding with the week by
that college applications are due is extremely stressful, particularly because at the end of the term they would have taken a bunch of tests.” In addition, Winston said that the fall no-homework weekend is moved to Columbus Day weekend, “which is two weeks before the end of the term. This gives seniors a weekend that they can focus on their college applications.” Senior Emily Pan said that the administration should put seniors, many of whom are in the throes of the college process, first. “I think it makes sense for them to prioritize seniors because it’s such a stressful time in the fall,” she said. “I feel like many other grades have different stressful moments, like sophomores have MCAS, and we respect that space. I feel like it’s
reasonable to give seniors a little extra breathing room around the most important decision of their life,” Pan added. As a junior, Kaylee Carson said she felt that for juniors and underclassmen, term one being so short makes for a bigger workload in many classes. “I think it’s unfair because the students are the ones who have to do more work,” she said. “They have had the term longer in the past, so if it worked before, why can’t it work now?” Winston acknowledged that the quarter ending early could make term one more difficult in classes with only a few graded assignments. “There’s definitely a drawback, which is that term one grades are
going to be based on very few grades,” Winston said. “For some students, that could be a detriment.” She added that although term one is shorter this year to benefit seniors applying early, teachers often want the opposite. “Term one has been pretty stable for a long time,” she said. “If anything, teachers wish that term one was longer. Teachers would tell you they would rather term one end November 10 but we really can’t do that because of the college process.” Science teacher Naomi Berg said that she would prefer all the terms be the same length in order to minimize the workload put on students. “As a teacher, having only eight
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weeks puts a lot of stress on trying to organize your curriculum so that you have more than just one or two units to go on for a grade in the first term,” she said. “You’re putting a lot of pressure on just only one or two big assignments in a shorter term, whereas in a longer term, there’s more assignments. So if a student doesn’t do well on one, it won’t impact their overall term grade as much.” Winston said she hopes that the changes will reduce stress levels for all students. “Student stress is something that we are trying to address, and this is one strategy, both ending the term early and doing no homework over Columbus Day,” she said. “So I think we look forward to seeing how it goes.”