HUHS Cancels Resource Period Amid Covid Challenges

Resource period was eliminated this semester and, in return, resource time has been spread throughout the class periods; this affects students and how they can seek extra school resources and participate in extracurriculars.

According to the Return to Learn Plan, the school has implemented mask requirements, improved air circulation, and teacher training among others. However one of these changes is detrimental to students.

The use of communal spaces has been limited and staggered by Hartford Union High School and the best way to do this is to remove resource. Resource is an open time where all of the school’s resources are available to the students, including communal spaces. By removing Resource, the school staggers the times at which these spaces are used and limits when they can be used.

However, this removal of resource is detrimental to the students. According to Linda Jacobson, a writer for EducationDive, “[Schools] will be most successful if they customize the use of time to meet content needs rather than adapting content to fit a fixed schedule.” By removing a free resource period and allocating that time into a fixed schedule of classes, our school is doing the opposite.

Class time is often limited and can’t provide individual attention to the specific needs of students. During class time, a teacher is there to assist students every step of the way. However, on homework, struggling students have no one to guide them.

Resource period was, and should be reinstated as, a solution and allowed students to optimize their work time with teachers. Resource period also made it easier to figure out what careers a student might be interested in by allowing them to talk to adults and explore clubs and activities pertaining to their career.

Education company Enriching Students states that free flex time helps students figure out what career they want to go in. With this extra time, students have to answer the question “what should I dedicate this time to?” A question at a perfect time, a time in which dozens of teachers and adults in varying career clusters are free to answer questions and talk.

In resource period, none of these actions are required. Students can focus on what they need, if what they need is time to hang out with friends, they have the freedom to do so. Some students and staff argue that this freedom prevents any work from getting done and encourages students to waste their time.

A key thing to remember about resource period is that it is a privilege earned with good grades and citizenship scores. If a student wastes time and falls behind, this privilege will be taken away from them. Without resource period there is no incentive for students to have good citizenship scores.

Many clubs and extracurricular activities such as DECA, FBLA, SkillsUSA, among others utilize resource periods as their meeting times. Without a resource period, these clubs have to ask members to come after school which has its own schedule difficulties with sports and jobs. A club such as DECA now has much more difficulty getting student membership and activity.