So what’s the verdict? The CHHS student body is eagerly awaiting a response on when PowerHour will return. When will we know? Why is it taking so long? What could be the green light for when staff puts it in place? While that is everyone’s biggest concern, let’s jump into the WHY.
This is what principal Kim Case has to say about why it’s important to have something like PowerHour to begin with.
“I think academic intervention is most important because not every student can come to morning ESS,” Case said. “Not every student can go to the afternoon ESS. Not every student has the ability to necessarily come to summer school, depending on personal circumstances and family circumstances.So building in some additional time within the school day for remediation, for tutoring, for extra help, to me that’s a win-win.”
The academic success of our students is clearly a priority, but there are other reasons that PowerHour can be beneficial. Sometimes we all just need a break from the day. You get to see your friends, chill around for a while, and not have too much to stress about. Or, of course, an opportunity to get caught up on late work.
Now let’s talk about how PowerHour was previously used, both appropriately and inappropriately.
“Every day I sat at a lunchroom table and did homework with my friends,” said junior Hannah Ferguson. This is the ideal way for PowerHour to be spent.
“I did witness several fights during power hour,” Civics teacher Isaac VanMeter states.
But what can we do to make it better? How can we reduce problems and make sure our intervention system runs smoothly and efficiently?
“Having more teachers open the second half and fewer people wandering the halls,” is the way Ferguson imagines how to get everything going and trouble-free.
Although the construction of our school is a completely different conversation, its effect is shown to be school-wide.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the new construction, there were some areas where teachers should have been, but we didn’t know that teachers needed to be there. So coverage was an issue due to construction,” VanMeter said.
“Some teachers were open more than others. And it was just kind of a miscommunication of needing a place for all these kids. And it’s really hard to get kids caught up whenever you have 50 kids in your room.” VanMeter said, in agreement with Ferguson.
Case shared details from the survey that was sent out to staff, students, and parents. This survey was to get extra information and opinions on PowerHour.
“I had 216 people that said they were interested in serving on a committee. I will not be chairing a committee of 216 people. However, I feel like that clearly indicates to me that people care about this, that they want their voice to be heard beyond a survey. So I want to respect that and honor that. So there will be some students, there will be some parents, there will be some teachers, there will be some staff members on this committee to look at the results, to look at the comments that were given, to kind of weed through those and group them. I want to look at what the percentage of students said, what the parents said, what the teacher said, because there will be some similarities, but I’ve already noticed there are some differences as well.”
Enough of that, let’s get to the big question. When is PowerHour coming back???
Case revealed the vital answers.
“So my expectation, ideally, I would love to hopefully bring back a form of Power Hour when we return from fall break, no later than that. If it were to happen sooner than that, I feel like we can benefit from that; we can do it sooner. It’s not really as much of a timeline that I have to have it done by this time as I want to make sure I get it right.”
A group of students use PowerHour wisely in Mrs. Sherrard’s room, September of 2024. Some students use PowerHour as time to get caught up with what they need, while others use it as quiet time to spend by themselves.
