THE
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sacramento, CA Permit No. 1668 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, CA
VOL.43 NO.2 • Sacramento Country Day School • www.scdsoctagon.com • @scdsoctagon • October 15, 2019
NOTEWORTHY CHANGES A Cappella Club members freshman Brynne Barnard-Bahn, senior Larkin Barnard-Bahn, junior Sarina Rye and senior Héloïse Schep rehearse during flex period. The new schedule features these daily 30-minute periods, often used by clubs, electives and classes. PHOTO BY HERMIONE XIAN
School community divided on schedule change’s effectiveness
O
BY ANNA FRANKEL
f those who expressed a preference, students overwhelmingly favor the new schedule over the old one. Overall, however, slightly less than half do. Last spring, a committee of 13 administrators, teachers and staff members decided to extend classes, eliminate the long period before lunch, add a 30-minute flex period after elective, drop one class per day and add three-minute passing periods. According to a poll of 123 students on Sept. 23-26, 48% said they like the new schedule more than the old one, 12% said they like it less, and 40% said they have no preference. “It provides so much more time for getting work done,” senior Alys-
sa Valverde said. “Now I can be more productive during the day and get more sleep at night.” The schedule now feels more relaxed, according to history teacher Chris Kuipers. “There is just more breathing time,” Kuipers said. “And that’s a reflection of the totality (of the schedule change), from passing periods and longer classes to a flex period and fewer classes a day. I can be thoughtful about what I’m doing, and it hasn’t been as stressful to find time for students who want extra help.” Kuipers said the flex period is a vital factor in this improvement. “My sense from talking to students is that it’s really achieving the (committee’s) goals,” he said. “(We) wanted to build space into the schedule to alleviate the pressures that clubs
or students seeking extra time were feeling.” The period has also provided time for college counseling meetings, Kuipers said. Math teacher Patricia Jacobsen said the flex period has been advantageous for her as well. “We now have an extra period compartmentalized as a meeting time,” Jacobsen said. “I’ve been doing a better job of actually eating during lunch, although I still do work.” Given that she doesn’t have a free period this year, Jacobsen said the flex time is especially helpful. “Now there are little pockets of time for things like clubs to meet or students to make up tests,” Jacobsen said. However, the flex period, according
to head of high school Brooke Wells, has not yet been used to its potential. For example, although he said it would have made sense to schedule class pictures during flex on Sept. 19, the teachers had
“(We) wanted to build space into the schedule to alleviate the pressures that clubs or students seeking extra time were feeling.”
— Chris Kuipers
already planned a student support meeting for that time, meaning pictures had to be taken during break. Similarly, the sophomore class’s
field trip to the Sacramento Central Library couldn’t occur during flex period because the librarians were only available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m, according to Wells. Wells said similar events in the future will utilize flex time whenever possible. But he said the flex period won’t eliminate stress. “It’s not going to be perfect,” Wells said. “It’s still only one period to do (everything) you want to get done. But we’ve taken a bit of the pressure off.” Jacobsen, for example, said she is unsure if the change has alleviated her stress because she has no free period and doesn’t have two periods of any class.
SCHEDULE page 3
SCDS Wi-Fi excludes phones to improve security, quality BY SANJANA ANAND Students no longer are permitted to connect their cellular devices to the school’s student Wi-Fi. According to director of technology Shelley Hinson, security concerns and the slow performance of school Wi-Fi were the primary reasons for the change, which took effect on Sept. 2. Hinson said Wi-Fi servers often have a domain router (which connects to devices through Bluetooth), but as Country Day students receive MacBooks, the school uses a local network (which has a password to connect to devices). “I can’t secure every personal device which is brought onto campus,” Hinson said. Hinson said she hopes to move to a regular domain for a more stable network, but it is expensive and difficult to manually make the change on every device using the Wi-Fi. According to Hinson, Country Day teachers have received an increasing number of fake emails, and removing personal phones assures a safer and more secure network.
INSIDE the ISSUE
The phishing emails are usually from fake administrators to confirm if an email is active. Recipients then are asked to buy gift cards. “These emails have been there for the last three years but have increased this year,” Hinson said. “Each admin now gets it about four times a month.” “In order to ensure maximum security, every device has to register under Country Day, and our laptops are already registered.” According to Hinson, the use of student Wi-Fi also affects faculty because every connection is taken from the same network. “It is important that the teacher WiFi works, especially if we ever have an emergency,” Hinson said. “However, because cellphones are not controlled by the school, we cannot ensure that all of those are safe to be on a shared network.” Of 117 high school students polled on Sept. 17, 54% disapprove of the change. Sophomore Tarika Brar said not being able to use the Wi-Fi on phones affects her
NEWS 2 Sparked by senior Spencer Scott, the high school Minecraft server provides a platform that furthers community bonds.
ability to use her phone at all. “I cannot contact my parents at any time during the school day, which will not be efficient during important situations,” Brar said. Senior Max Kemnitz added that he has not noticed an improvement in his laptop’s Wi-Fi. According to Hinson, before the Wi-Fi was changed, there were about 900 consistent connections every day, and 750 of those were cellphones. “The more connections there are, the more bandwidth (range of frequencies used to transmit a signal) is used, and we only have a certain amount of that, which slows the speed of the Wi-Fi down,” Hinson said. “If students are playing video games on their phones, it takes up more bandwidth, which doesn’t leave very much for teachers to use in their classrooms.” Freshman David Kedem supports the switch. “Phones aren’t there to help (students)
CENTERPOINT 6-7 The new Academic Resource Center helps students with study skills, organization, assignments, projects and more.
WI-FI page 3
NO CONNECTION As of Sept. 2, Country Day students were prohibited from connecting their phones to the school’s Wi-Fi, causing some to lack cell service. PHOTO BY SHIMIN ZHANG
FEATURE 8 Vermont teacher Jessica Lahey discusses her first book, “The Gift of Failure.” Lahey will speak at SCDS on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
REVIEW 11 Senior Emma Boersma, a coffee connoisseur, critiques a local roaster chain in the first installment of her coffee review series.