Despite some student opposition, attendance at Tutorial will remain mandatory for the remainder of the school year, according to Administrative Teacher on Special Assignment Trinity Klein.
However, Klein clarified that students would not be dropped from Tutorial for attendance problems.
“We’re getting some feedback from students as well as families,” Klein said. “We are trying to be careful with our decision making so that we can be thoughtful and reflective of the feedback on Tutorial we get. But Tutorial will definitely remain mandatory for the rest of this year.”
Science teacher Elizabeth Brimhall, a member of the committee which designed the new pilot schedule, explained that requiring attendance was largely due to state mandates specifying a certain number of hours students must be at school.
“We need the minutes to meet the state requirements for instructional minutes in our pilot schedule,” Brimhall said. “Last year, we looked at some alternatives, which included longer periods instead, but ultimately our recommendation to Ed Council was for a mandatory Tutorial. We felt that this was a much better option because when classes were made longer, the school day got too long and we felt strongly that that was not in the best interest of students.”
Additionally, Brimhall noted that students would be more likely to complete work if attendance to Tutorial were required.
“As educators, we know that if you require an activity that students will benefit from, they will be more likely to do it whereas if you make it optional, they will opt out to their detriment,” Brimhall said. “It is in this spirit that we believe that requiring Tutorial is in the best interest of students.”
Despite having a period of time dedicated for school work, some students find that certain Tutorial policies, such as only being able to visit one class, inhibit productive usage of the period.
“Many of us are more productive at home than at school,” junior Matt Miller said. “The lack of proper resources in classrooms and the inability to move around makes it hard to accomplish more than one subject of homework.”
Unlike a conventional class period at Paly, in which students are dropped after the fifth cut, students will not be dropped from Tutorial due to poor attendance.
“We’re certainly not interested in dropping students from Tutorial,” Klein said. “That would be contrary to our goal of helping students achieve academic success and leading balanced lives.
However, Klein said that other standard attendance procedures apply.
“We’re not very interested in policing students into making certain choices, but we are taking attendance, so you will get phone call home if you don’t show up,” Klein said. “If you never show up in our system, I’ll probably be talking to you eventually.”
Regardless of the more lenient attendance policy, Klein stressed that students will be hurting themselves most by choosing to skip Tutorial.
“The greatest consequence of not going to Tutorial is not getting the benefit of it,” Klein said. “Students now have an hour and five minutes to seek help or finish homework. Not going is really only going to hurt you.”
For students who are left without work to do during Tutorial, Klein made a few recommendations.
“Go back over your week’s notes to review, go to PE and work out a bit or find a teacher that you’re comfortable with and ask them if you could sit in the back and listen to your iPod,” Klein said. “What we’re really hoping for in Tutorial is that students will have another chance in their day to have meaningful contact with the adults on campus that care about them.”