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Community Corner

RHS Should Postpone Midterms

Hello Ridgefield,

I'm posting here as a concerned Ridgefield High School Senior, specifically regarding midterms this year. As those of you with highschoolers may know, midterms are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, January 15th. Normally, that date wouldn't raise an issue, however this year, due to extenuating circumstances, it’s untenable.

We have already faced many weather-impacted schooldays, several of them flat out cancellations. In fact, upon returning to school following winter break just last week, we were faced with an early dismissal on Thursday and a cancellation on Friday. To be frank, absolutely nothing is accomplished on early dismissal days; school starts at 7:25 a.m. and is dismissed at 10:55.  Every class is allotted 20 minutes, a period too short to start new material or effectively review old material. The following day we did not have school due to the storm. So now here we are on January 6th, our first day of class since December 20th, just 6 school days away from midterms.

To be clear, my issue is not that there were delays, dismissals, and cancellations; those calls were correctly made with people’s safety in mind. My issue is that RHS refuses to adapt. Because of the weather and by no fault of their own, teachers haven’t even finished teaching the subject matter we are being tested on in 6 days. Not only does this mean our learning is being forcedly rushed and thus incomplete, but more importantly, most teachers don’t see it as possible to start reviewing until Friday, some even until Monday. That leaves us two days. Two days to review half a year’s worth of old material and new material we’ve barely learned. Every teacher and student that I’ve talked to is up in arms, but the administration is absolutely adamant in refusing to push back midterms.

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This hits everyone in the RHS community differently. So many of my senior friends are still desperately trying to balance AP work, myriad extracurriculars and finishing college applications that are due on January 15th. That on its own is crushingly stressful, and adding midterms that no one is prepared to take is the straw that will break the camel’s back. Juniors and sophomores are in a similar position, but instead of college applications, they are balancing everything with SAT preparation and all the stress that entails. However, in my opinion, the students hit the hardest are the freshmen. At RHS, I was taught that my voice counts and that the school community cares for me. These 14 and 15 year olds have never taken midterms and will certainly be entering them unprepared. Do we want to send the message that RHS doesn’t care? That the freshmen don’t matter because the RHS administration chose a date and doesn’t want to go back on it?

In past years, the administration has been far more flexible with the date. I remember taking exams even after January 23rd. Hardlining on January 15th does not serve any student at RHS; as it stands everyone I’ve talked to is unready and anticipates performing poorly. I suggest pushing the exams back a week. These midterms matter and students care about doing well. I ask that the administration keep the students of RHS in mind.

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If you have a highschooler, talk to them about how they feel about midterms. If they don’t feel ready, I urge you to call RHS at 203-894-5750 or send the administration an e-mail expressing your concern; the more support we have, the better the chance we have.

Sincerely,

An RHS Senior

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