At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, a new block was introduced. This blocked is called Teachers in Academic Support Centers (TASC) and allows for students to have a designated time to get extra help during school hours with teachers. At the beginning of the week, students make a schedule of what teacher they will be assigned to each day of that  week.

I asked a few students what they thought of the new block.

Some of the students interviewed do not like the new TASC block the main reason being it’s too disorganized at this time: “It can be helpful but it takes up too much time to do” (Javanna Cahill, Junior) This same student at PHS had an idea that if TASC was taken out of the current schedule that would allow for the school to get out at a more reasonable time.

There is a lot of discussion surrounding how TASC could be handled better so things could go more smoothly. A suggestion was to make switching an assigned TASC block to another teacher easier:“Scheduling is hard when you can only do it on Monday, you don’t know what you’re going to do the whole week and it’s hard to change it after that.” Ruby Fregeau, Junior.

Others believe TASC is a useful block that improved their focus in school and gives them a chance to breath during the school day and take a breath from the regular classroom setting, “It’s a good alternative for student athletes.” Gwen Peters, Freshman. This block allows for kids who are busy after school with sports or work to get a head start on their homework during school so that the workload may not be as heavy when they do get home for the evening.