Severna Park students lucked out this year in multiple ways. Not only will they have a new school after the winter break, they will also get two to four extra days to sleep in. Moving from the old school will be the biggest transition of the year and will definitely require extra time.
Packing, moving and unpacking will be a stressful, strenuous journey for everyone involved. Teachers will have to pack up their rooms and get everything ready for the movers all in a day or two’s time. Principal Bathras will be meeting next friday with representatives from Central Office to determine how many days off the school can request, and then that request will go to the state superintendent for finalization. “Generally speaking we will get two, one on the beginning, and one on the end. One to pack up, and one to unpack,” said Bathras. He is hoping to actually get four days approved to give teachers more time to get everything organized in the new building. Since it will be a large comprehensive high school it will take them a little longer to find their way through the building.
Both teachers and administration are worried about the big move. Luckily, movers will be doing all of the heavy lifting and moving the boxes, limited furniture and computers from the old school to the new building. Mrs. Schnabel said, “I think the hardest part about the move will be packing up 50 plus years of accumulated things.” The plan is to have teachers pack up their rooms on the first day off and have everything ready for the movers by the end of the day. Then, the movers will take the boxes, and everything else, and place them in their designated areas. The one to two days after the break will be used for the teachers to get unpacked, settled and used to the new building. “It’s going to be new to everybody, not just the students,” said Bathras. The layout of the new building will be very simplistic, though, so hopefully it won’t take too long for everyone to get into their routines again. One of the two days at the end of the break will hopefully be used for emergency planning, according to Bathras. The two extra days will not only guarantee safety, but also more sleep; both very important things to students.
Another worry that falls into teachers’ minds is the fact that they will be losing teaching days. AP tests will not be pushed back to compensate for these days, so teachers will have to. Mr. Haring said, “Yes, I must speed up. Some topics will be squeezed to accommodate for the lost time.” With some AP courses, the lost time may not phase them, like AP Calculus AB. Enough time is built into that curriculum already so they will not have to rush at all. The bright side of all of this is the teachers have been warned about these days, so they know they will have to alter their schedules. “I am worried about losing instructional time. However, we know about these days in advance, so I can plan for the lost time, unlike snow days,” said Haring.
Freshman this year will be getting the short end of this stick. They have to go through not only one week of getting lost, but two. Getting used to two new buildings in one year will not be an easy task. But, freshman, Nick Howland is excited for the new building, specifically the new air conditioning. “In my opinion it’s going to be fun going to two new buildings in one year. It’s not like I will be the only person getting lost because everyone will be new to it,” said Howland.
