This article was written by Kathryn Stauffer, a student in Journalism class.
Is community falling apart?
U-32 embodies community, but does the school need a little push to strengthen it?
The importance of spending time outside with her students could not be undervalued by Christiana Martin, a social studies teacher in the high school. “I really support the idea of getting kids off campus… I think field trips are a great way for students and their teachers to literally see each other in a different light,” said Christiana.
Many upperclassmen believe that once students are in school classes should start. “If I had to be in school I’d rather I benefit in some way,” said Maeve Daloz, a junior at U-32. These sentiments were echoed by another junior; Ryder Curavoo “We could be doing schoolwork [and] starting school so we don’t go into July.” Last year, school ran until June 24th, with the staff in the building even longer.
In addition to this, students felt that the Wednesday half day start slowed down the year even more. “[Wednesday] just felt like step up day repeated,” said Jesse Batdorff, a junior at U-32. Christiana Martin shared this sentiment. “I usually do the same lesson on move up day that I do on the first day.” said Christiana. This slow start seemed to hinder students more than building the community that it was attempting to.
Principal Becca Tatistcheff supported the half day. In response to a google form sent out for both the 2024 and 2025 school years Becca stated, “based on that feedback, we make shifts and changes. And so we made the shift of starting with a half day because of studen[ts].”
Meg Allison, one of the school librarians, stated her agreement that the Wednesday half day was “fueled by teacher needs.” Meg added on, “you’re coming in with all of this energy…ready to go and then to leave halfway through the day. [It] feels like we sort of cut off that energy.”
Meg is not the only adult in the building to feel this way. Barrett Jones, an Algebra II and AP Calculus teacher at U-32 said, “from a planning standpoint, I definitely used that time to help get myself more prepared for the beginning of the year.” However, he did not feel that it was very useful for students to have a half day.
This was echoed by the head of the Spanish department at U-32, Adam French, “I do have some concerns about how that taxes our parents in the community,” said Adam. He was specifically concerned about how a half day may be difficult for parents with both elementary, middle, and high school students. Having to organize two pick ups or working out how kids will get home alone was one aspect of the Wednesday half day that worried Adam.
In addition to the concerns for parents, older students are no longer attending Beach Day. “That’s Labor Day weekend. It’s a long weekend. Maybe there’s plans to spend time with family, to do some extra traveling. I can see why parents might have made alternate plans with their families,” said Meg.
According to Christiana Martin, one of her students was planning on skipping the beach day to take a longer weekend. The parent who informed her of this said, “if you’re going to the beach all day anyway, why wouldn’t my kid not come on Friday?” This question was echoed by the junior class who ended up cancelling their beach day due to rain. “Multiple different weather channels…said it was going to rain, and they had no backup plan,” said Ryder Curavoo.
While some people in the building wish that the first day of school could be shifted in some ways, others are calling for a complete reworking of the entire idea. Most are advocating for a beach day closer to the end of the year. Others, like Meg Allison, are thinking more along the lines of a different type of day for each grade. “You’re at different developmental ages, and it’s not that you’re any less social or want to have any less fun, but there’s a bit of a focus shift,” said Meg.
Becca supported Meg’s idea of each grade having their own fun day. “I would love that. That would be super cool.” Becca said. She also suggested the involvement of student council as well as committees of students from each grade.
Becca still wants to focus on “a slow start to school that emphasiz[es] relationships and connections, both among students and from students to adults.” She feels deeply that U-32 is known for “making sure that there’s a deep sense of community.” While this is an essential base for a successful school, some would argue that a lot of community has already been built for older students, especially with their TA groups.
“I didn’t think the TA stuff was necessary because my TA is three people and we’ve known each other for seven years,” said Cavan Farrell, a senior at U-32. This is a common feeling among many juniors and seniors.
However, for the younger grades, TA time may still be essential. “It’s been a great way to introduce new people to be like, we’re going to camp and we’re just going to spend the day bonding,” quips Chrisiana Martin, who now has tenth grade TA’s.
U-32 has a very strong community but is Beach Day strengthening or deterring this value? How much of the first day of school needs to change? Is there ever a way to make everyone happy?
