Complied by: Sam Reinert, Kenley Kingrey, Akane Fujimura, Phillip Whitney
The day of final exams. Everyone takes their finals for first, third, and fifth periods on the first day of exams, and has their finals for the even periods the next day. Everyone that is, except for athletes missing school for their respective games.
Students who participate in sports take their final exams early if they are going to be missing the exam for a trip, like the boy’s varsity basketball team this Thursday as well as the hockey team, but they are the only ones who are allowed to. Students who are missing their finals due to vacation or personal trips will NOT be allowed to take their finals early, and must take them after the two week Christmas break, receiving an Incomplete on their report card until then.
When asked why this double standard occurred Dr. Gee said, “If we let students take their finals early than half the school would be gone. Since it’s so close to break, giving them the option of doing their work early is like making the school day optional, and we can’t have any day at all be optional, let alone finals. We tried to change the game this weekend, so basketball could stay. But SOHI wouldn’t allow it because it wouldn’t be a money maker for them.”
The teams can take their sixth period final early because they are school sponsored trips, and they otherwise would have to miss part of their season just because of a scheduling issue. Since the trip has to do with school an exception was made, but for any other absence, even if it is excused, the administration has decided that finals must be taken after the break in an effort to keep attendance up for the last few days of school.
When asked how he felt about the exceptions in the early final policy Quinn Daugharty, one of the basketball team captains, said, “We are only missing sixth and I have choir that period, so it isn’t too bad because our final for that class was pretty much our concert. It makes sense that the principal wants to keep kids in school for finals, that’s his job, but I also think that students who are going on a trip with their family and can’t help missing school should be given the same chances the sports teams are.”