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VOL.45 NO.3 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, CA • www.scdsoctagon.com • November 16, 2021
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ARIJIT TRIVEDI, MILES MORROW, ADAM AKINS, GARRETT XU AND GARMAN XU
Aftermath of virtual learning leads to slow first quarter
T
BY SANJANA ANAND & ARIKTA TRIVEDI
he usual difficulties of starting a new year include adapting to new classes and teachers. This year, another layer was added — going back in person after, for some, over a year of online learning. The quarter ended Oct. 28, marking the end of the first few months of the 2021-22 school year. As students adjusted to having a normal school year with a full schedule, the first quarter started off slow. Last year, the combination of Zoom and the hybrid schedule resulted in less class time for stu-
dents and teachers. In some cases, classes were unable to cover all the material they usually would. “A lot of teachers, myself included, eased up on our expectations last year,” said high school math teacher Patricia Jacobsen. “We went through, and still are going through, a really tough time. So we really had to decide what was important.” Jacobsen has noticed that many of the freshmen and sophomores in her classes don’t have many of the necessary basic math skills from their classes last year. Recently, when teaching her freshman and sophomore Algebra II Honors class different ways to solve quadratic equations, she
discovered that half the students
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“We went through, and still are going through, a really tough time. So we really had to decide what was important.” PATRICIA JACOBSEN hadn’t used, or even heard of, the quadratic formula. “It’s a staple of the Algebra I curriculum,” Jacobsen said.
“However, it’s usually taught at the end of the year, so unfortunately many students — including from Country Day’s middle school — didn’t learn it or don’t remember learning it.” The sophomores in her Algebra II class were in eighth-grade algebra when the pandemic hit, so many of the skills usually learned at the end of the year aren’t as strong. The freshmen in her class who attended Country Day’s middle school had hybrid classes leading to less class time. As for freshmen coming from other schools, there isn’t really a way to tell what their schedules and classes looked like, Jacobsen said. Occurrences such as this are
why Jacobsen’s class is already a week or two behind. Physics teacher Malak Abou Faour noticed the same with her freshman Physics classes and her Algebra II class. She said the lack of in-person labs affected the students’ math, logic, reasoning and analytical skills. “In class, they’re interacting with the material, writing notes and are obligated to participate in the discussion as opposed to turning off their camera and going on mute,” Faour said. For her Algebra II and Physics 9 classes, Faour is going slower
EDUCATION page 3 >>
Behind the scenes: The maintenance and custodial team BY GARMAN XU There are a lot of things that make a school run smoothly. Many people associate the words “school management” with the teachers who engage students in learning or the administrators who raise money for the various activities taking place on campus. But one important group of people who are easy to overlook is the maintenance and custodial team, overseen by Director
of the Physical Plant Jay Holman. Although they operate largely behind the scenes, the team includes three night custodians, one maintenance employee and one ultility worker, all of whom are essential for a successful school day. As one of Country Day’s night custodians, Raj Singh, is not often seen by many students. He arrives at school every day at 4 p.m. and works on campus until 12:30 a.m. to clean up the campus and classrooms for the next school day.
CAMPUSCORNER ADVISORY LUNCHES
TURKEY DRIVE
To celebrate Thanksgiving, the school is providing sandwiches for lunch for advisories on Nov. 19. In past years, advisorties have eaten in the quad together. This year, students will eat with advisories around campus to maintain social distancing.
On Nov. 12, Country Day held its annual Turkey Drive. The school collected 457 turkeys to help families in need throughout the Sacramento community. The goal was to collect 528 turkeys — one turkey per student. Last year, the school collected 276 turkeys.
Each of the custodians has specific areas where they work on campus. Singh is responsible for the Frank Science center, some middle school classrooms, the multipurpose room and a few lower school areas including pre-K and the lower school art and music rooms. The everyday routine includes taking out the trash, vacuuming classrooms and wiping down windows, tables and chairs. “Sometimes it only takes 15 minutes or 20 minutes to clean a classroom,” Singh
said. “But in the fall season, it takes 45 minutes because I have to vacuum two times to clean up the leaves.” As a former custodian for UC Davis, Singh said the workload at the school is not much different than at the university. This is because although the university classrooms were large, cleaning them was more straight-forward than dealing with K-12 classrooms.
INSIDE the ISSUE Caffeine: the perfect blend or a bitter end?
Do you drink caffeine? Or know someone who does? Read an examination of Country Day’s caffeine culture. (PAGES 6-7)
ILLUSTRATION BY GARMAN XU
MAINTENANCE page 3 >>