Admin opts to review and tweak existing policies, rather than implement new rules

BY SAM MAILEY
[email protected]

At the start of the second semester, Roseville High School administration and staff began working on policies to reduce class disruptions. These include tightening restroom and vending machine use policies, the office making efforts to distribute dismissal notes to classes in either the first or last ten minutes of class and limiting phone calls to classrooms unless it is an emergency.
“We had some teachers in our department leadership teams several months ago bring up some concerns that they had that there were a lot of interruptions in their class,” principal David Byrd said.
A department meeting held last November targeted staff concerns regarding class disruptions. A subsequent survey completed by the faculty in December showed support for exploring these policies.
Rather than implement new rules to limit the disruptions, school administration chose to focus on reviewing existing policies.
“It’s been less about we’re really going to crackdown and put some rules in place and more of a reminder and a request that we change a few things up,” Byrd said.
Principles of Biomedical Science teacher Erin Granucci noticed the disruptions impeding class.
“It was a lot,” Granucci said. “It wasn’t just one person. It was an entourage of people and whenever the door opens or the phone rings, it’s a distraction and people lose focus. And it’s hard for a teacher to get them back.”
Granucci saw students express frustration with the frequent disruptions, as well.
“It started to disrupt my students and there were students who were getting very, very frustrated that they were getting pulled out numerous times,” Granucci said.
Since the modifications to the policies, Granucci has noticed a decrease in the disruptions’ frequency.
“This term they’ve been wonderful,” Granucci said. “They haven’t been an issue. It hasn’t been a problem.”
Granucci also made adjustments to her bathroom policy in light of students abusing the passes, which has resulted in general improvement in classroom efficiency.
“Every ten minutes somebody is waiting for somebody to come back, so I had to change that,” Granucci said. “And since I’ve changed my policy it’s been really good, and the performance in the class has gotten better and the focus.”
Counselor Philomena Crone has found these policies regarding the distribution of student passes difficult to follow because of the varying lengths of student appointments.
“Because of the unpredictability of where our conversations are going to go, sometimes they go longer, so now I’ve gone, let’s say thirty minutes into second period, but I need to see a lot more students,” Crone said.
The unpredictability of which and when students will be needed also keeps office aides from distributing all passes to teachers before the first ten minutes of class.
“You don’t know when they’re going to need kids, and you can’t take all the notes in the first ten minutes if you don’t know,” office aide Amanda Arquilla said. “So I think it’s a dumb policy because what are you supposed to do if the nurse needs somebody now? Or if somebody’s parent comes in and needs [their child]?”
Media classes pulling students out of class for interviews has also been an issue to Pitts in recent years, but the students have cooperated with the teachers’ schedules.
“It depends on how long they’re going to pull the kid,” Pitts said. “It depends on what we’re doing, but they’ve also been able to cooperate.”
Integrated Math II teacher Brian Klein doesn’t feel as passionate about the issues as other teachers, but he understands negative attitudes toward the disruptions.
“Sometimes it takes 45 minutes to get where you’re needing them, and if somebody walks and heads turn, then you’ve lost them,” Klein said.
According to Klein, the first and last ten minutes of class are just as valuable as any other part of class time.
“To me the first 10 minutes may be the most important, having kids do warm-ups as I wander around,” Klein said.
Pitts hasn’t experienced her students using their bathroom passes to buy from the vending machines during class, which was one of the disruptions brought up in the meeting.
“They get bathroom passes, three of them, that’s the way that I had handle it,” Pitts said.
Byrd understands teacher concerns for any disruptions.
“We get 90-95 minutes in every class, every minute is precious when we’re teaching and kids are learning,” Byrd said. “And I appreciate it that teachers cared enough to say ‘We’re trying to minimize some of the distractions and interruptions in class because it’s hard to get a solid teaching flow.’”