Junior Olympics, Testing Days and More

High School correspondant Melissa Tucker gives her views on issues affecting Scarsdale High School students:

Junior Olympics: At a house meeting last week, the ongoing Junior Olympics battle has been settled. For now. The plan is to have heavy police patrol the night before Junior Olympics, and if something goes wrong, Mr. Klemme will call the whole thing off. All juniors will be breathalyzed when they arrive at school, and students will not be permitted on school grounds before 7:30 A.M.

Frankly, I think students will find a way to misbehave no matter what preventative measures are taken. From the opinion of a sophomore who can’t wait to reunite with her elementary school friends for a day, the juniors should remember they aren’t just representing their grade, but could seriously jeopardize the event for everyone in years to come. If they misbehave, they will not only get Junior Olympics cancelled for themselves, but for all future grades. Is that really the legacy the class of 2011 wants to leave behind?

Testing days, which were under review, will still be in place for the third quarter. Approximately 300 students completed an online survey about the testing day system, and most students want to keep the system because they fear that without it, several tests could be scheduled on the same day. Personally I was furious when I heard the decision, because we already have the mercy rule here at Scarsdale, where students can only have two assessments, including tests, papers or project due on the same day. Most students don’t know about this rule, and some of those kids are afraid to tell their teachers that they have to move a test date. While that’s a legitimate fear, a rule is a rule, and if kids are so afraid to speak to their teachers they can go to their deans. In my opinion, we should at least try one quarter without testing days and see what happens. We can always reinstitute the system. If we keep the system, I think the rules need to be more clear, and all students need to be aware of these rules.

Disaster Week: SHS students celebrated for three days when they got phone calls from Linda Purvis, announcing the cancellation of school for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The SHS community erupted instantaneously as those with and without power relaxed, knowing that we’d have a one and a half day week.

We milked our “snow days” to the last drop, using up every snow day before we had to add days back on. Although students rejoiced, we are now paying the price with schedule changes in most classes. The pressure is on next week as tests scheduled for this week were pushed back to next week, stacking the assessments before Spring Break. Most students find themselves with a major assessment in almost every class next week. Some students bargained with teachers to have tests delayed, claiming that the lack of power made it impossible to study. We all enjoyed our free days, but that call on Wednesday from Linda Purvis confirming the opening of school son Thursday sent us back to reality, with the sinking realization that it was time to crack open the books yet again.