Principal Steve Swaggerty called upon student leaders to attend an Advisory Committee meeting on March 25. With the text, “The Principal’s Advisory Committee meeting is today to discuss two topics: AP test dates shifting and stories of good character at NV. All NV students are welcome. We will also review the calamity day plan that was approved yesterday. See you in the PAC lobby during lunch,” sent out to all students registered with the NV text account, attendance for this month’s meeting was at a record high.
The meeting’s agenda began with the calamity day schedule that was approved on March 24. Mr. Swaggerty explained that after careful consideration, the best option for the Sylvania School District was to add one hour to 11 school days after spring break. April 7-10, 14-16, and 21-24 will be extended school days with approximately seven minutes added to each period. Other options to make up the four calamity days required by the state included Saturday school days and having students come back to school after exams, according to Mr. Swaggerty.
“The meeting was very insightful as to the schedule changes due to calamity days. It seems as though our school has figured out the best solution possible, despite what others have said,” junior Jake Mason said.
Much discussion at the meeting stemmed from the fact that a tentative plan to move AP testing has been formulated. In the tentative layout, students taking AP Spanish, AP Chemistry, and AP United States History will have two extra weeks of instruction before taking the test during the Collegeboard’s AP program late testing week.
Benefits of this plan include more instruction time after 14 days of missed instruction due to weather. However, challenges are that teachers have already adjusted syllabi for the missing school days and students taking the AP tests during the late testing period will have a smaller competitive pool, which may result in a different outcome in their scores.
“The Principal’s Advisory Committee meeting was very informative and beneficial; not only did it inform students about daily schedule and AP test changes, but it also allowed students to voice their opinions about these changes,” junior Celine Schreidah said.
Finally, Mr. Swaggerty introduced students to a plan that will outline the good character at NV into a few “cornerstone” terms. The terms will define NV’s ideas of moral character that are important to the school as a whole.
Geeta Rao Opinions Editor
