Plus 1, a new program implemented this year, has undergone many changes since it was first introduced.
“I think that any time you do something for the first time, you’re going to learn from what went well and what did not go well,” social studies teacher Roddy Story said. “I think that with Plus 1 this year, we’ve tried a few different things.”
These changes have included a shift from the Friday study hall system to the current every other day study hall system and the change from two lunches back to four. Students view these changes as generally positive.
“I really like the Plus 1 we have now as opposed to what it was at the beginning of the year,” senior Greg Zakaria said. “There’s more time to actually get homework done and see teachers instead of doing rather pointless exercises everyday.”
According to a recent survey conducted by the administration in January, 63 percent of students find that Plus 1 is beneficial to the student body, as opposed to 14 percent who think it is not. Additionally, 23 percent of students were reportedly neutral.
Among those with neutral views is sophomore Parker Pschorr.
“Plus 1 is utilized very well by students who take the opportunity, just as anything else in school,” Pschorr said. “No matter what you do, [the] kids who don’t care are not going to utilize it no matter how you structure it, unless you have a teacher stand over you and say ‘do your homework.’ But you can’t; that’s unrealistic.”
Principal Justin Bartholomew said a large number of students were reported to have received help from a teacher at least once in two weeks. Bartholomew views Plus 1 as more than just a period of study hall.
“Teachers have had a lot more students come to them to make up a quiz [or test] that they were absent for, which in previous years some students can’t be there before or after school, so they just ended up taking the zero,” Bartholomew said.
This and more, according to assistant principal Janice Giles, is part of the overall purpose of Plus 1.
“The main purpose of Plus 1 was to provide students who needed help and extra support with their classes time in the school day to receive the help,” Giles said.
In addition to providing support, Plus 1 was implemented as a way to include SAT and ACT prep into the school day, as the school no longer offers SAT and ACT prep classes after school. Some students, particularly seniors, find these prep days to be useless.
“SAT prep is helpful for the underclassmen, however for the seniors, it’s completely pointless,” Zakaria said.
The solution to this problem may be a Plus 1 setup that is more tailored toward each grade level. Some students of other grade levels have also complained about the SAT prep days, but these days have their use, according to Bartholomew.
“[ACT and SAT prep] might be tedious and mundane, the same thing over and over again, but it’s going to help a lot of the students,” Bartholomew said. “When it comes time to take that exam, [the student] will be able to say, ‘I’ve seen this 17 times,’ which is what we want.”
However many changes Plus 1 has gone through this year, there are even more planned for next year. These changes could include a new weekly Plus 1 schedule where students see each of their teachers once a week during Plus 1.
“[Plus 1] will be more of a rotation,” English teacher and English department chair Kathleen Greenlee said. “For example, on Monday you would be with your first period teacher, on Tuesday your second period teacher, Wednesday third, Thursday fourth and Friday would be reserved for tutorials or things that administration has to get out there for us….We still have the option to give passes for kids to come to remediation. There wouldn’t be two structured days; there would be only one.”
– By Sawyer Davis
