The
Gryphon Gazette
October 2014
•
The Student Voice of St. George’s Independent School
•
Volume XIII, Issue II
Administration shakes things up with new half-day schedule Miriam Brown ’17
T
Katie Boyle ’17
Students strategize while playing Risk on the half-day before Fall Break. On the halfday, students participated in two sessions of classes based on their interests.
his year, instead of attending a shortened class schedule on half-days, students attended an elective of their choice offered by a faculty member. “[Last year] the community consensus was that going to every single period for a really short period of time didn’t lead to any kind of learning,” said Mr. Will Bladt, the associate head of school. “The people whose parents decided to leave early for break left early for break, and everyone else was here going through the motions.” In response, St. George’s
has decided to give students a completely different experience on half-days. According to Ms. Kayla Irvin, the assistant dean of students, there are about 40 offerings for students to enroll in, ranging from cooking to gaming to art classes. Through these exploratory classes, students are getting the opportunity to see a completely different side of teachers that they do not ordinarily see. Cont. on Page 2
Middle school carpool pushes for safety and efficiency Heather Stevenson ’16
During
dismissal, middle school carpool students are no longer allowed to cross over into the parking lot to their parents and cars are now filed into a double line for pick-up. The middle school administration is hoping to establish safety and efficiency to the carpool line with these decisions. Middle School Director Genevieve Hoppe said that long lines, extensive waits, and unsupervised
children were major problems in previous years, which prompted these decisions to be made. “In the afternoon for dismissal, the issue we were facing was that either the carpool line would be really, really, long or we would have a lot of kids that were crossing over the crosswalk and into the parking lot,” said Mrs. Hoppe, “and when you have parents that are Cont. on Page 3
Parents in the middle school carpool wait for dismissal in the new double line. Student safety and efficiency have been the main focus for the new changes.
Heather Stevenson ’16
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