A new semester brought many changes to CORE

The new semester brought a clean slate for students and new developments for CORE. After reassessing the needs of the school at the semester, the CORE committee, along with administration, decided traffic in the hallway during class needed to be controlled. Instead of having two teachers split a CORE block, several second half teachers were reassigned a new duty – hallway monitor.

“The biggest thing is making sure students are in class, and [that] they are learning. [It’s also about] safety, making sure there’s not people in places they’re not supposed to be,” said Principal Dr. Brandon Wolfe.

Every classroom is equipped with neon colored hall passes, and the expectation is that students carry these whenever they leave the room. “If it’s after any of the bells ring, and it’s not between classes, you have to have something that identifies where you’re going and where you’re coming from,” said Wolfe.

History teacher Nick Harding works as a hallway monitor on B days during third block and has seen an improvement in that there are fewer kids aimlessly wandering the halls. “My perspective is not just a hallway monitor, but also as a teacher,” said Harding. “I do feel that there are fewer kids in the halls and that’s based on just a general perspective.”

Harding wasn’t the only teacher that saw an improvement according to feedback given to administrators. “After the first couple of days, everybody had a pass and was going somewhere, and we saw the amount of traffic in the hall really decrease,” said Wolfe. “What people have reported is that they don’t feel like there’s as many people in the halls.”

Hallway improvement was not the only change to CORE. Sections were moved out of the cafeteria and into the auditorium or an alternate location, and some smaller CORE sections were dissolved and combined with other sections.

“[We did this with] the idea that we’d rather have a lot of smaller areas that are more conditioned to getting work done than having one big, open area that maybe 20 people can work in but 100 students don’t,” said Wolfe.

In addition to altering CORE sizes and locations, a math lab was also added. “Now more math support is available throughout the day,” said Wolfe. “Maybe you missed a class, and you need to get caught up in that concept; it’s just another way to help provide any resources [students] need in terms of math.”

The addition of hallway monitors, along with the other CORE changes, all serve the same purpose – students maximize learning time and avoid disciplinary issues.

“Just have a pass. Whether you’re going to the nurse, if you have a core pass, if you have a bathroom pass, if you’re working for newspaper, or working as an office assistant, whatever it is, just have some sort of ID,” said Wolfe.