Wake County implemented a new policy that affects all schools within the district that restricts the use of student cellphones in the classroom. Green Hope implemented a similar practice last year.
Mr. Bollhoefer, the assistant principal of instruction at Green Hope, stated that, “We felt last year, and we’ve been feeling for a while, that cellphones have been an impediment to students.” Other than the new cell phone policy, there are other changes that are taking place at Green Hope this school year.
Mr. Morgan, an assistant principal at Green Hope, discussed a new practice that involved the bell schedule. The school lunch was shortened because the school wanted to, “Maximize core instruction time. The goal is to try to get all of our core classes to 90 minutes,” says Mr. Morgan, so all classes have an equal amount of time for instruction. Mr. Bollhoefer also shared another reason why the bell schedule changed.
Last school year, the school noticed that behavioral issues were happening near the end of lunch. Mr. Bollhoefer explained how these issues contributed to the shortened lunch: “When unstructured time becomes a thing, students tend to not make such great choices.” He also shared that student input played a role in the decision making, stating that, “We also heard from multiple students that lunch was a little too long.”
Mr. Bollhoefer shares that lunch is not an hour, and if they were to implement a longer lunch, they would have to extend the day or start earlier. So, in order to dutifully give time back to 90 minute classes, they shortened lunch. He shares that SMART lunch, a time where students can make up work for classes, is a way to “justify instructional minutes for students.”
Another practice new to Green Hope this year is the exemption policy. In previous years, the exemption policy only pertained to seniors with 10 absences or less and a grade of a B or higher in their classes. This year, Green Hope made a separate practice from district policy to all grade levels having access to this benefit. Mr. Morgan shared some insight on the new student exemptions.
Mr. Morgan stated that “the senior exemption is still 10 or fewer absences, but for grades 9-11, they added the tardies,” meaning tardies won’t count toward senior exemption, but will count for underclassmen. The new exemption was prompted by a successful implementation at other schools. Mr. Bollhoefer offered more insight on the new exemption.
Mr. Bollhoefer shared that, “We decided to bring on board the practice of freshman, sophomore and juniors to qualify for the exemptions.” In his personal opinion: “If you’re in a class for 89 days, and that makes up 80% of your grade, a 3-hour exam should not make up 20% of your grade.” He hopes that this new practice will be a benefit to all students.
These new policies and practices are implemented to improve student learning and productivity in the classroom. Mr. Bollhoefer shared his goals for the students at Green Hope, stating that, “I want everyone to be able to come to school and feel safe, supported and cared for and to focus on learning,” wanting students to have a genuine learning experience. He hopes students will ask questions and that these changes will ultimately help students be diligent learners.
