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Early Bird takes a dive: cancelled next yearAlison Palmer, Charger Staff As the school year is nearing its end, one can look back and see how well it
has gone, considering the budget cut and the late start. Mr. Wayne Shanks, Principal
of Cookeville High School, says, “Overall, I feel like there appears to
be a very good focus on student learning.” Even though this year has gone well, changes in the upcoming 2002-2003 school
year will be made, some of which include a new schedule and the elimination
and introduction of various programs. Most know about the 9-2 calendar, recently approved by the School Board, where
school will be in session for nine weeks followed by a two-week break followed
by another nine weeks of school and another two-week break. The two-week breaks always follow the end of a term s so there is no pressure
on the students to study during their days off, and no valuable time is wasted
reviewing forgotten material. To revise the schedule was a county-wide decision with the hopes that the 9-2
system will be more effective and advantageous to student learning. One reason why the decision was made to change the schedule was because of
the benefits and parent requests of Capshaw’s current 9-3 schedule. The only major complaint about the 9-3 system at Capshaw was that when the
children graduated from the elementary school and moved on to Prescott Central,
they were on a different schedule than younger brothers and sisters who were
still on the 9-3 calendar. This created a problem with scheduling vacations and activites because the
children haddifferent breaks at different times. Because of this problem the suggestion was made to institute a common schedule
for the whole Putnam County School System. This new schedule consists of three
two-week breaks, along with the usual short holiday breaks (for instance, Memorial
Day and Good Friday). The calendar has been approved for three years, and following those three years
the School Board will make a decision whether or not to make the 9-2 schedule
permanent. A survey was given to 750 teachers about the 9-2 schedule, and results showed
a shocking majority of 83% of the teachers were in favor of the new calendar. One drawback to this new calendar is the short summer breaks. What is normally
a ten-week summer break is now reduced to eight weeks. Activities and programs, such as day care and teacher education, will have
to be adjusted to comply with the schedule of the school system. The short summer
will also provide a problemwith students who want summer jobs. The model 9-2 calendar that was presented and approved by the School Board
does not have any cost and currently does not affect the budget. However, Dr.
Martin explains that by law the School System has to provide help to failing
students. This among other things, could eventually cause activities and programs
to be held during the two-breaks that would cost extra money. Some have doubts
about the effectiveness of this new schedule. To these few Shanks says, “The School Board, in their best judgement,
felt that this was the best calendar, and I encourage people to be patient and
open-minded. I don’t think the School Board would’ve passed the new
schedule if it was not beneficial.” Another change next year at Cookeville High School, will be the absence of
the Early Bird program. The Early Bird program, here at Cookeville High School, has a few shortcomings
that made it a candidate for cancellation. Bad attendance and poor performance were some of the disadvantages of the program.
One advantage of the Early Bird program is that it lowers the student-teacher
ratio. There is the possiblility of more alterations in the policies of Cookeville
High School. Mr. Shanks says, “Hopefully changes will be made that improve the student
environment without jeopardizing safety issues.” Any other changes in the
school stystem will depend on the budget. Overall, the 2002-2003 school year looks to be a promising,fun and constructive year for the staff and students of Cookeville High School.
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