As many are aware, the recent hurricanes Helene and Milton have been devastatingly damaging to the state of Florida. With a great deal of lives completely changing, schools must cooperate with students and families to get things back on track. After careful consideration, the administrators of St. Petersburg High School have announced their decision regarding hurricane make up days. To ease the stress many SPHS students are facing right now, no midterm exams will be taken this school year.
The burning question for all students…how will Semester One grades be calculated? SPHS Principal, Ms. Lebo offers, “the quarter one grade and the quarter two grade will be added together and divided by two, so it’ll become a 50-50,” meaning that if between the two quarters a student earns an A and a B, their semester grade will be an A, or if their quarter one grade is a B and their quarter two grade is a C, their semester grade will be B, and so on. That may seem like the best way to benefit students, however, this also means that students cannot rely on midterms to help boost their grade by the end of the quarter.
Regarding students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes (including the APs that typically require students to take a midterm), midterms will still be waived. For teachers of AP classes, Ms. Lebo’s recommendation is to provide practice exams to allow students to grasp what the end of year AP exam will be like; “[even if] they […] still give those practice tests in class, it just won’t count for a third or 25% of the grade like an actual midterm would have.” This also applies to IB seniors who are typically required to take all of their midterms but will not have to this year due to the hurricanes.
Many are probably wondering what made the admin settle on this plan, rather than possibilities such as extending the school year or decreasing the number of Fall, Winter, or Spring vacation days. In an attempt to make the calendar modifications less intrusive on SPHS families, Lebo says, “it all comes down to a formula[…] there’s a minimum number [of hours in a standard school year calendar] that are required to meet state standards. We always build extra hours in, so even with [having missed] the hurricane days, we were not in a bad place.” However, the teacher work day that was put in place to be January 6th will now be a normal school day with all teachers, students, and staff attending school, which will not affect anyone majorly as teachers were already intended to be at school. To put it simply, Lebo proposes “The whole rationale behind doing away with the midterm exams is, instead of losing four days of instructional time during those exams, you’re gaining back full days of instructional time to add back in for students.”
One question that students may have is can second semester exams still be exempted? The answer is Yes! The second semester’s exam exemption opportunities will remain the same as in typical school years. Because a lot of students have missed days due to distressing circumstances at home, they will not be penalized and forced to take midterms, having missed days of instructional time, but rather Lebo offers “[instead], you know, just have waived them for everybody. Start fresh in January.”
Interview Transcript:
My first question is, do you know how students’ semester one grades will be calculated? I do. So the quarter one grade and the quarter two grade will be added together and divided by two, so it’ll become a 50-50, which is actually kind of good for you guys, because if you get an A and a B, it’ll automatically be an A, or a B and a C, it’ll automatically be the B.
My next question is, will it impact AP classes in any way, especially ones that typically require students to take its midterm? So those classes are also in the ones that will not have a midterm exam. Some of the teachers have asked about that. My suggestion would be they can still give a practice, because practice AP tests are important for students to take and kind of get a feel for what they look like before moving into the spring, right? So my suggestion to those teachers would be that they can still give those practice tests in class, it just won’t count for a third or 25% of the grade like an actual midterm would have.
And then, would it also impact any IB seniors who also usually have to take all of their midterms?
IB seniors are in the mix of, they don’t have to take those, there’ll be finals at the end of the year, but obviously the IB seniors are taking their regular IB exams, so yeah.
What made the admin settle on this decision compared to the other hurricane makeup day options?
So, Mr. Hendrick and his executive leadership team, along with the school board, wanted to try and make the makeup situation as less intrusive for families as possible. So, it all comes down to a formula, elementary school, middle school, and high school, and the number of hours that are built into the school year, and there’s a minimum number that are required to meet state standards. We always build extra hours in, so even with the hurricane days, we were not in a bad place. I mean, even having missed those days, we were not in a bad place. But our district opted to add in January 6th, because the teachers were already working that day, and it doesn’t affect the teachers having to come back on a non-work day, but the students have to come in. The same thing with the February day, because that was a district-wide training, teachers were already working that day. And then the last day, which I don’t even think is really going to affect students that much, because it’ll be the last day of school, which will be an exam day, and instead of having a two-hour early release, it’ll be a full day. But most students probably will be done with exams and probably leave early anyways, right? So, it just helps with adding in the extra minutes. And I think the whole rationale behind doing away with the midterm exams is, instead of losing four days of instructional time during those exams, you’re gaining back full days of instructional time to add back in for students.
My last question was, will students still be able to exempt semester two exams?
Yes. As far as I know, nothing’s changed with that. And the nice thing is, too, when you think about first semester, I’m assuming a lot of students probably missed days because of hurricanes and this, that, and the other. So they’re not being penalized by having to have midterm exams and having missed days and, you know, just have waived them for everybody. Start fresh in January. Thank you so much. You’re welcome.
