Schedule change to exclude asynchronous classes

Seven period day to be implemented

Freshman+Evie+Schmitz+works+on+an+assignment+during+her+synchronous%2C+first+period+French+class+Feb.+25.+Park+will+combine+Cohorts+A+and+B+to+attend+school+in-person+four+days+a+week+beginning+April+12.

Emmy Pearson

Freshman Evie Schmitz works on an assignment during her synchronous, first period French class Feb. 25. Park will combine Cohorts A and B to attend school in-person four days a week beginning April 12.

Talia Lissauer and Maddie Schutte
March 15, 2021

After spending most of the year with a mix of asynchronous and synchronous classes, freshman Niya Hollie said the switch to full in-person classes will demand too much energy from students.

“It’s a little aggravating going to all the classes because it requires a lot. You have to be focused, you have to do a lot and you have to move back and forth,” Hollie said.

Beginning April 12, Park will increase to no assigned capacity and transition to a seven-period day schedule instead of asynchronous and synchronous periods. All students will be required to attend all classes on Mondays, with Cohorts A and B in-person and Cohort C online. Wednesdays will remain a student-support day, especially focusing on students in Cohort C. 

Students in Cohorts A and B should attend class in-person every day and if they are not present in-person, they will be marked absent. Cohort C students will have assignments on Schoology to complete by Friday and should log on for at least a check-in, but potentially a full class period if requested by the teacher during other days, according to interim Principal Wendy Loberg.

“We want to go back to having kids understand school is all day,” Loberg said. “We’re going to support kids while they do work within the classrooms. While kids work at home and they can either get on the link or get off the link (to reduce) screen time.”

With the previous setup, students were able to log in from anywhere. Assistant principal Jessica Busse said this posed an issue when students got too flexible with where they logged in from.

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“The problem we’re running into is that parents think their kids are coming to school and kids are doing class all over the place and think ‘I can do school at Caribou’ …  and parents don’t know where their kids are and they think that they’re in one place,” Busse said.

Sophomore Anna Hodges said she found asynchronous classes beneficial when teachers gave students assignments. However, she feels there were asynchronous periods where students sat around and didn’t utilize their time well.

“I do (find asynchronous classes beneficial) for some classes because sometimes teachers will still give work and make it so they’re still engaging,” Hodges said. “But then there’s somewhere (where) it’s like they don’t really care and you do whatever you want, and kids take that for granted and instead of doing work they go on their phones.”

Loberg said it is important that all students and staff follow the mitigation strategies put into place, including social distancing at 3 feet apart if 6 feet is not possible, along with wearing masks, washing hands and staying home when feeling ill.

“Right now, we are cleared to have a prom and commencement, and I don’t want anything to happen to jeopardize both of those,” Loberg said. “We don’t know what they’ll look like yet, but we’ll do something, and they will be awesome.”