School Board adjusts schedule blown around in storm

Debris wasn’t the only thing blown around by Hurricane Irma. Schedules were thrown up in the air leaving students, parents, and administration wondering what to do. In a district email sent out by Broward County Public Schools, it was announced that the school board decided Thursday, Oct. 19 and Friday, Dec. 22 will be full days instead of half days, as originally scheduled. Along with that, the start of second quarter was moved from Oct. 23 to Oct. 30. Third quarter was moved from Jan. 9 to Jan. 16, and fourth quarter will remain the same. School Board Member Donna Korn explained why this was the best option.

“Required class time is based on minutes; therefore, by increasing half days to full days we gained enough minutes to meet the requirement,” Korn said. “This direction had the least impact on scheduling as it didn’t interfere with days off that people may have already had plans to be off for other commitments or travel.”

Broward County schools closed on Thursday, Sept. 7 to allow students and their families time to prepare for the incoming Category 4 Hurricane Irma. Although the storm wasn’t due to hit South Florida until that Sunday, Gov. Rick Scott strongly advised schools to be closed to give people time to prepare. Due to mandatory evacuation orders in the Keys, Dade and Monroe Counties, several Broward County schools were opened as shelters, including West Broward. Though Western was not one of the schools being used as a shelter, it still had to remain closed because of power outages.

Hurricane Irma made landfall early Sept. 9 causing many schools, including Western, to lose power. According to the superintendent of schools Robert Runcie, school would not resume the following Monday. He kept parents informed through phone messages, and principal Arrojo also kept in contact with students via Parentlink messages and Twitter. Students and staff were finally able to return to school on Sept.18.

Extracurricular activities were also affected because of the storm. Homecoming week was originally scheduled for the week of Sept.18, but was rescheduled to Oct. 2- 7. Two football games were also moved to a later date and the Homecoming game took place on a Monday.

Friday night lights morphed into Monday night lights. Running back Keshaun Clarke commented on how the Wildcats’ momentum was affected by the Friday/Monday game schedule.

“Considering we’re the only team [in the district] that played four games within two weeks and won all of them, I guess I can say it was pretty impressive,” Clarke said.

Other sports teams also missed both practices and games that they may or may not get back. Marching Band has a competition on Oct. 21 and because of the practices they missed, they’re on a time crunch to prepare. Clarinet player Daniela Gomez described the pressure.

“We want to do well because it can set us on a good path for the rest of the marching season, but having such a short amount of time doesn’t help with creating the best show possible,” Gomez said.

Since adjusting to the new schedules, students and clubs have now shifted focus from Irma to victims of Hurricane Maria. Latinos in Action, sponsored by Thalia Montes De Oca, is gathering supplies such as first aid kits, canned milk, diapers and blankets to send to Puerto Rico. The deadline to turn in items is Oct. 25 to first and fifth period teachers.