Academic Lab’s main purpose is to provide a time for students to get extra help and work done within school hours. Administrators and teachers have started to think that productivity has gone down and decided to make a change in order for all students to use the time to its fullest potential.
“The Ac Lab Task Force is a committee that will gather our current realities on Ac Lab and make recommendations for its future,” Assistant Principal Mr. Chris Dallas said. Dallas heard the issues students and teachers had with Ac Lab and decided to start this program to help it be a useful tool.
While not the ones that implement the changes, the task force will study what has worked for other schools in order to make recommendations to an administrative team that will have the final say in the matter.
Art teacher Mr. Brian Guilfoyle believes that a change in the structure of Ac Lab will help students greatly.
“I’ve seen a class of freshmen to seniors through my Ac Lab and noticed consistently that the students who were organized were much more productive than those who weren’t. I want to help students use their time better,” Guilfoyle said.
German teacher Mrs. Amy McMahon agrees, saying that Ac Lab is a good time for students to make up work and have some down time. While McMahon enjoys the idea of a relaxed atmosphere, she still believes that there should be some changes in the system to bring the value back to this critical part of the day.
“I definitely believe Ac Lab should be changed because the productivity is low in so many students,” McMahon said. “I’ll always see people wandering around the hallways without focus. These kids are ruining it for the kids who are using Ac Lab for homework and studying.”
The concerns of the teachers are not the only thing fueling this force, though. Last spring, when the committee was first planned, many students and teachers alike put in thoughts of an Ac Lab that is a more efficient use of time.
Although the task force currently only involves teachers, Guilfoyle says that the opinions of students and teachers will be involved. Some students, like junior Dana Megargle, protest any change, saying that those who get their work done are the only ones who the rules would affect.
“If people are given that free time to do their work and they aren’t working, more rules aren’t going to change that,” Megargle said.
Megargle also dislikes the idea of change because of the potentially adverse effects it will have on the students who do their work. McMahon agrees, saying that those who are studious shouldn’t be punished.
“There will always be the good kids who do their work with the intended purpose of Ac Lab,” McMahon said. “I’m worried for them because I don’t believe Ac Lab should be taken away fully.”
While the task force is brainstorming things to change, getting rid of Ac Lab is not one of them. There is no official time line for when changes will take place. Dallas says that he hopes to have the recommendations in by early next semester so some revisions may start next year.
“If we make more changes, it will take longer [to implement them]. Ac Lab should stay the same for the rest of the year, though,” Dallas said.
One part of the revisions is finding ways to correct issues. Members of the task force are, therefore, conversing with Parkway North High, which has had an Ac Lab Task Force for two years now. Teachers who are currently at Central but came from a different Parkway school are also being consulted to see what worked at their school.
“Before we change anything drastically, we want to make sure it’s a positive change,” Guilfoyle said.
