Letter: Cheating, Longer Lunch Lines May Result from Changes at Ramapo-Indian Hills

The following letter was submitted by Wyckoff resident Grant Schwab.

The following is a note to Ramapo-Indian Hills district parents, students, taxpayers, and whomever else this may concern. My name is Grant Schwab. I am currently a senior at Ramapo High School. In the coming months, I shall be preparing to leave for college, but before I leave the education system, I feel it appropriate to address two arising issues in the district.

To start, I have nothing but the utmost respect for all Ramapo High School faculty and administrators. However, I believe that two major reforms potentially reaching both Ramapo and Indian Hills high schools in the coming years may be detrimental to the integrity of our education system.

The two possibly troublesome issues are 1) the institution of “block scheduling” and 2) the introduction of school-provided laptop computers for each and every student.

Block Scheduling

Under the current scheduling format, students have nine 43-minute periods each day. There are four separate lunch periods. Save for 2.5 credit courses, each class meets every full school day.The day begins at 7:35 and ends at 2:39.

Under the proposed block-scheduling format, there would be a total of six academic classes daily plus a lunch period for each student. There would only be two lunch periods in a day. Class periods would be lengthened to just below one hour. Students will have the opportunity to take up to eight academic classes (as is with current format), but all courses (including ones worth 5 credits) will not meet every day.

There are some definite benefits to the proposed block-scheduling format. As cited by Ramapo principal Dr. Louis Moore in a recent presentation to the Board of Education, block scheduling would:

• Potentially support more in-depth learning because of the longer class periods
• Possibly diminished nightly workload for both students and educators
• Add variety to a regular high school day because of a new class period rotation
• Still allow students to take up to 8 courses

However, Dr. Moore did not elaborate on all the potential concerns of the new system. He mentioned briefly:

• Classes not meeting every day
• Students potentially having trouble with the rotation system
• Fewer lunch periods

However, I think there may be more widespread effects to the issues Dr. Moore raised.

“Classes not meeting everyday” may not have serious consequences for knowledge-based classes (e.g. Social Studies, Traditional Sciences), but it might negatively impact skill-based courses (e.g. World Languages, Mathematics.)Lacking five consecutive school days of instruction in skill-based areas, students’ progression and abilities could be hindered.

Further, the cheating that (unfortunately) already exists might escalate once block scheduling is put in place. For example, under block scheduling, the same class (e.g. CPE Biology with Mr. X) that is taught during three separate periods might not all meet on the same day. Classes A and B might meet on Friday, but class C would not. Therefore, when Mr. X schedules tests, he would have to consider the possibility of students from class C seeking answers from the other two class periods. Possible methods of combating this consequence bring their own effects. Mr. X could deal with this issue by a) waiting for days on which all three classes met (disruptive to the progression of new curriculum) or b) making multiple versions of each test (excessive strain on the teacher.)

The most obvious problem concerning the lunch period situation is a lack of student seating / longer lunch lines. While this issue certainly stands on its own, potential solutions to the conflict could generate an even greater schism. For example, if students are allowed to eat their lunches all over the building to make up for a lack of seating, clear security risks could emerge as it would be difficult to keep tabs on students. This could also become a major sanitation issue; as opposed to waste being concentrated in one area, the remnants of student meals would be scattered and thus much more difficult to clean up after. Students may leave behind crumbs that would attract bugs, rodents, and other undesirables.

Another concern not raised by Dr. Moore is class length. As is, many students struggle to maintain focus during 43-minute periods. With hour-long classes, even more students will struggle to pay attention in class. Yes, teachers will have the ability to carry out longer lessons, but they would more than likely fall upon deaf ears.

Laptop Computers

In general, the institution of new technology in education opens new doors to new realms not available previously. However, this particular innovation seems to have a broader downside.

Despite simple measures such as blocking websites and granting educators greater liberties to levy detentions on to distracted students, I have no doubt that most students will either a) find ways to bypass restrictions to access their desired content and/or b) find distractions even among permitted programs. Personally, I know that I would surely be distracted by an additional device.

Additionally, although money for these new computers apparently does fit into the district budget, the means spent on these largely unnecessary devices could be put to much better use (e.g. safer equipment for athletic programs)or could be entirely shaved from the budget overall (lower taxes!). 

Conclusion

There are pros and cons to each side of both issues; my wish was to simply provide a cursory, holistic glance at the potential reforms. To the best of my knowledge, no concrete research exists as to which scheduling method is better or to whether or not laptop computers in the classroom are in fact detrimental. All argument on either side is speculation.

With that being said, I thank you wholeheartedly for taking some time out to read this message. If you feel strongly about any of the content mentioned above, I encourage you to look into more positives / negatives or to contact me / any Board of Education official.

Spread the word!

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