The second semester will now begin Wednesday, Jan. 25 on a “Red Day” schedule

BY ABIGAIL LUNNY, STAFF WRITER

After two blizzard-like snow days on Friday, Jan. 20, and again on Monday, Jan. 23, SHS has had to make some adjustments regarding first-semester exams and the start of the second semester. Here is helpful information about these changes:

• Block 4 Semester 1 Exams will run from 7:50-9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 24 followed by remediation (9:20 a.m. – 2:10 p.m.) and lunch (10:30-11:30 a.m.). SRTC classes will run as normal.
• The second semester begins on Wednesday, Jan. 25, and will operate on a Red Day schedule.
• The Add/Drop period falls on the first three days of the new semester, which has now changed to Jan. 25-27.

Like all semester changes, many students and parents have questions about Add/Drop and how to ease into the changes and transitions of a new semester. Add/Drop is the period where students still have the opportunity to make important or necessary class changes, primarily surrounding appropriate levels and pace, along with graduation requirements.

Add-Drop is on a first-come first-serve basis, meaning that even if a senior student is missing a core credit there is no guarantee that they will be able to add-drop for a specific class. According to the school counseling office, students are limited to seeing their counselor only one time to make schedule changes during the second-semester add/drop.

Students wishing to make a change to their schedule should come to the School Counseling office and get their name on the list for their school counselor, then they will be called down.

Add-Drop schedule changes are made only for the following reasons:  

1. A block of their day in their schedule reads “See School Counselor”
2. They need to change the level of a course they are in (for example, switching from CCP to Honors, Applied, etc.)
3. They wish to make a lateral class move (for example, changing one Block 3 elective for another. Please keep in mind, the majority of SHS classes are NOT offered every block.)
4. Students looking to make a schedule change involving an elective or enrichment course should come prepared with an idea of what class they would like to add to their schedule.

Students should also keep in mind that, within the three days of ad-drop, counselors are not scheduling regular appointments, only add-drop meetings. 

Students should also remember that this is the final semester to explore SHS’s Enrichment Courses, which will disappear next school year after the School Committee’s schedule-changing vote last fall. Both SHS and SRTC supply a lot of unique and unexpected courses, with precisely 15 new enrichment courses since the 2021-2022 school year.

If students or families have any questions, they should reach out to their child’s school counselor.