Westside Middle School Introduces Warrior Time

Ainsley Meyerson, Wired Co-Editor in Chief|September 3, 2019

Aayushi Chaudhary

Westside Community Schools recently emailed a district wide statement regarding the closure of all district facilities effective from Saturday, March 14 to Friday, March 20.

For the 2019-2020 school year, students at Westside Middle School will experience shorter class periods in order to make room for the newly introduced Warrior Time program. After their ninth period class, students will go to Warrior Time. Warrior Time is a study opportunity where students can focus on school work and get help from teachers if needed. They can finish homework during this time or schedule a time to meet with a teacher if they have questions on a lesson from that day. However, on Wednesdays, students will not go to Warrior Time so that they can follow the Wednesday schedule and be dismissed from school at an earlier time of 2:45 p.m. Westside Middle School Dean, Corrie Philo, said that one of the benefits of Warrior Time is that it gives students time during the day to receive help with their school work.

“Students that are not able to typically stay after school are able to get [help with schoolwork],” Philo said.

Westside Middle School eighth grader, Greta Mann, said that she thinks Warrior Time is a good addition to their schedule.

“I like it better [than before the schedule change] because I get more time to finish my homework and get stuff done, and I can get more sleep at night because I don’t have homework,” Mann said. “And if I need more help, I don’t have to stay after school and miss my activities to do it.” 

Mann said that although she likes the new way of scheduling, she thinks that there are some downsides. 

“Since it’s every day, it can take away from classes because they’re shorter, and you don’t have as much time to go over the stuff you’re talking about in class,” Mann said.

Philo explained that although classes will technically run shorter, they should be about the same length because of the new tardy policy that will allow teachers to begin classes as soon as the bell rings. 

“I understand that we did have to take away four minutes from each class period in order to have this Warrior Time, [but we also] instituted a pretty strict tardy policy in its place, so teachers are able to start classes on time,” Philo said.