The bell rings, signaling that it was time to go to the last class of the day. Senior Angela Boyk leaves her Honors Senior Composition and Literature class and heads to Introduction to Calculus. Despite the other students’ enthusiasm for math, the dread shows on her face. For Boyk, math is her hardest class, she says dolefully as she eats the school pizza that isn’t cooked thoroughly.
In past year students like Boyk who wanted extra help in a class had seminar time – two hours a week built into the school day – to seek out a teacher for help. No more.
Now students like Boyk say they are finding it more difficult to catch up in their hardest classes. Those who have after school jobs are even more hard-pressed to get tutoring time with teachers.
After three years of counting on Seminar, Boyk and others are having to find new strategies for academic success. For some, that means teaching themselves.
Boyk says that without seminar, she now tries to tutor herself at home. “Sometimes I actually can find the answers in the book.”
“I like the schedule the way it is,” Boyk says. However, she added that seminar allowed her to get help when it was needed.
Senior Barrette Turner has trouble in his American Government class though he enjoys that class a great deal. “I wasn’t really ready for it,” Turner says. “I didn’t have that much knowledge about politics.”
Turner says that seminar did help him, but now that it is gone, he has to “stick to his books.”
This year, sophomore Jeremy Burl says that none of his classes are too hard, so he doesn’t miss seminar too much. Last year was a different story. Burl used Seminar to get help in his math class.
Seminar was cut last June by the Board of Education because of the need to save money.
Dashing out of class, the bell rings, and in her hand, Boyk holds a math test. Looking down she smiles.
“I’m improving, got a B on the last test,” Boyk sys, “Felt like I accomplished something.”