Anyone in high school will quickly understand that during winter, the threat of a two-hour delay is more frightening than the possibility of actually going to school.
Students generally believe that snow days are best, with normal days second, and two-hour delays last. The problems with delays come not from what they are, but with how they are implemented into the school day at AHS. Principal Shawn DeRose says delayed opening schedules are decided by the school, not the county, specifically, an instructional counsel made up of teachers and other school leaders.
On delayed openings, the schedule differs between Red and White Days. On Red Days, students attend four classes like normal, however lunch is omitted, and each class is roughly an hour long. On White Days, W4 and Pride Time and lunch are omitted, and the three classes students attend are roughly 90 minutes long.
DeRose says, “I think when it comes down to two hour delays what we’re trying to do is prioritize instructional time. It doesn’t give us our bang for our buck… We really want to prioritize instructional time so that classes, pacing, on a red day compared to a white day, can stay together.”
Delayed openings on White Days are more problematic than those on Red Days. On such days, classes are two minutes longer than normal. Big deal, so what? The issue is that W4 and Pride Time are cut to allocate this time.
For any academically motivated student, W4 and Pride Time are the most reliable time of the day to get stuff done. Homework, retaking summatives, club meetings, talks with teachers.
Two-hour-delays aren’t frequent enough for this to be a common problem- fortunately. But students and teachers alike schedule summative retakes and meetings and other important activities weeks in advance for this one block of the day. It’s usually the only available time in busy schedules.
With this in mind, it’s much easier to understand the backfire of randomly omitting any given W4 and Pride Time. The effects of this can range from minor inconvenience to major impact on one’s grade, now that summatives account for 90% of that grade.
Shared between delayed openings on both Red and White Days is the elimination of lunch block, a decision decided by the school. However, elementary schools, middle schools, and other FCPS high schools, including Woodson, still have a lunch block on these days.
DeRose justifies this decision by pointing to Second Chance Breakfast, which is still provided on delayed openings. DeRose says AHS is one of very few schools to offer it not only on delayed openings, but on normal days. He added that on two-hour-delays, students should hopefully have eaten prior to coming to school, and Second Breakfast functions as a sort of brunch to help students get through dismissal.
On delayed openings at AHS, instead of a 30 minute lunch block, students are encouraged to pick up Grab n’ Go lunches at dismissal. To be clear: school ends at 2:55 pm. The time from the ringing of the dismissal bell to the departure of the school buses is only ten minutes, so it is unclear where students are supposed to eat these lunches. The school bus? Walking home? Home? What about practice or meetings after school?
The decision should be between holding school like normal or canceling it. In events that would normally call for a two-hour-delay, school should be canceled because who couldn’t use a breather? Delayed openings cancel W4 and Pride Time on White Days, eliminating an advantageous period beneficial to learning, but also increase instructional time. Shorter classes on Red Days stress students and teachers by forcing the latter to teach at a quicker pace.
Regardless, two-hour-delays cause confusion, grumpiness, and make going to school feel pointless. People complain no matter what. So why not call it even and just cancel the entire day? You’d be able to eat lunch at a normal time anyways.
