Franklin Regional wants to improve high schoolers' experience during 2nd semester

Ron Suvak, principal at Franklin Regional Senior High School, said his goal for 2021 was simple: To ensure students’ second semester experience is better than the first, educationally, socially and emotionally.

Suvak presented school board members with the results from a recent survey of high school students, focused on their experience in the district’s hybrid education model, in which separate groups attend two days per week in person, learning online the other three days. On Wednesdays, all students learn online while the building undergoes a full cleaning.

A Change.org survey titled “Franklin Regional students need support” garnered more than 1,000 signatures in early January.

Suvak said about a third of respondents “want to be back in the building as often as possible.” Another third indicated a need for more “asynchronous time, more screen breaks, more time to release the stress.”

“Students need and want to be clearer on what they’re learning,” Suvak said. “Not just the task they’re completing, but what’s the learning associated with that task? And we, educationally, need to make that more transparent to them.”

Suvak said an upcoming professional development day Feb. 15 will focus on learning targets for students and making learning tasks more explicit.

The fourth takeaway from the survey, Suvak said, was the social and emotional aspect of learning in a new way.

“That really rang through,” Suvak said. “Students want to reconnect with their classmates. They want something to look forward to. They want and deserve things that are fun in school. That came through loud and clear.”

The challenge, he said, is trying to figure out a way “to give as many students as possible what they want.”

One way is to look at classroom layouts and determine a way to maximize the number of properly socially distanced students who can be accommodated, Suvak said, adding a survey will be going to seniors and their families Tuesday “to see how many of our seniors want to be back in the building as often as possible when we can safely do that.”

“Obviously for our senior class, this is their last opportunity with us, and so we want to start with them,” Suvak said.

One thing that will not change is the use of Wednesday as a deep-clean day for the high school.

“It provides additional asynchronous time for students who wanted that,” Suvak said. “But it also allows professional time for our teachers and staff.”

Suvak said high school counseling staff will provide support for students’ mental health needs on an individual basis.

Board member Scott Weinman said he is happy to see that focus.

“We’re almost a year into this (pandemic), and I’m worried that the damage to their social and emotional mental health is going to be far worse than what the virus might do to them,” Weinman said.

In terms of socialization, Suvak said he and his staff are determining safe ways to provide students with more fun and social opportunities.

“These processes will be ongoing,” he said. “We’ll continue to revisit this so we can continue to try and make the second semester better than the first.”