Tutorial is now mandatory for all students with D’s or F’s in an administrative attempt to help students better their grades.

“What we’ve done is taken an incredibly active role in supporting struggling students,” Principal Phil Winston said. “We hope that students’ grades will go up with an intensity in monitoring.”

Students with one D or F are directed to attend Tutorial in the classroom in which they have a “failing grade.” Students with multiple D’s or F’s are directed to the English Resource Center, where 10 teachers are available to help students, according to Winston. This process was initiated on Jan. 5, and will continue through second semester, though the adminsitration has yet to figure out the details.

“The admin [administration] team and ed [education] council will sit down and figure out what the best way to move forward is,” Winston said.

Tutorial, which is supposedly mandatory for all students, traditionally does not issue “cuts” for students who do not attend.

“It [Tutorial] is offered for students who want provided help,” Winston said. “I don’t want to punish students who don’t get help for themselves, because it’s just a nasty cycle.”

Mandatory Tutorial is intended to provide additional support for students who could use the extra help.

“We need to find a different way to approach it,” Winston said. “This is an experiment. I’m all about trying new things.” 

Students with “failing grades” will continue to receive Tutorial call slips until their grades improve.

“In my mind, those students need to get out of the danger zone,” Winston said. “Then, they again will have the opportunity of free choice.” 

Winston believes the mandatory Tutorial initiative has been well received.

“There is a whole big group of young folks [who] told us as they were leaving, ‘this was awesome, thank you, we liked it, we appreciate the help,’ ” Winston said.