Change To Patriot Period Announced
January 11, 2022
Update: Jan. 13, 2022
Principal Darah Bonham announced the new Patriot Period system at the Jan. 13 staff meeting
The new system will have students report to an assigned homeroom first thing each day. Teachers will be able to draft students from their homeroom. If a student is not drafted, they will remain in there for the duration. Students who are not drafted who wish to be with a particular teacher during Patriot Period must speak with the teacher prior to that day so they can be drafted.
Teachers will be able to request a few students that they currently have in class to be a part of their homeroom. Students will also get a chance to select a teacher they would prefer to be a part of their homeroom when assigned, but there is no guarantee that a student will receive the homeroom teacher they requested.
A new bell schedule will be in effect, giving students an increased transition time of 6 minutes between classes. The pods and second floor will no longer dismiss before the bell.
Homeroom will begin on Jan. 31.
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The administration is considering potential changes to the current Patriot Period system, due to frustration expressed from both staff and students.
“One thing that’s not working is students needing assistance in a more frequent cycle rather than every two weeks,” principal Darah Bonham said. “The other piece I hear is that it’s short, it’s 30 minutes, so it doesn’t really give a chance to really get involved in too much. I know from the club perspective, it feels like the clubs bounce around a lot.”
While there are some frustrating aspects to the current system, there are also benefits to teachers and students. Each class gets a chance at remediation for an extended period of time and there is no competition between teachers to draft students.
Bonham’s goal for Patriot Period is, “giving more support to the students is really, wholesomely what it is. This is about how do they get more support so they can do all the things they need to in the class, make up the tests, all that kind of stuff, but also hopefully learn the material better.”
Ultimately the decision as to whether or not a change will be made rests with the administration. However, Bonham is keen on getting input from staff and students as to what, if any, changes should occur. If the decision to make a change is decided on, the plan would be to start implementing the new system at the start of the second semester.
The current Patriot Period model allows class remediation every eight days, with club Fridays twice a month. There are currently four different proposals for potential new systems.
Option 1:
- Keep Patriot Period as it is.
Option 2: - Patriot Period runs every Wednesday and Thursday for academic enrichment.
- Every other Friday for clubs.
- Patriot Period on Wednesdays and Thursdays runs for an hour, after first block, with the use of the adaptive scheduler for students to be drafted.
- Students would report to an assigned “Homeroom” after first block if they are not drafted.
Option 3:
Same as #2 except, instead of a homeroom, all students are drafted out of 1A or 1B.
Option 4:
- Monday-Thursday school will operate on a regular schedule with four blocks of instruction. Every Friday will operate on the current Friday Patriot Period Schedule with students and teachers using the adaptive scheduler to select activities and locations.
- Every other week, Wednesday and Thursday instructional blocks will engage in new instruction no longer than 45 minutes. The remainder of the block will be used for remediation, make-up work, review, or enrichment activities in the class.
If a change is decided on, the new system will go into effect starting in the second semester.
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