New Freshmen Open Office Hours Rules

Kayla Minsk

Tuesday, October 27, brought changes to the freshmen Open Office Hours protocol. The goal of Open Office Hours is to provide a time for students to check in with teachers and complete assignments, such as the newly-added asynchronous classes and their corresponding work. Previously, the freshmen shared the Student Commons and surrounding areas with the sophomores during Open Office Hours. 

The new protocol splits freshmen students into four different classrooms to create a more “structured environment,” Judaic Studies Instructional Team Leader and 9th grade advisor Rabbi Allan Houben explains. “[We] view our job as a school to help students learn how to structure and use their time effectively. Especially in 9th grade when balancing your [High School] workload is new, this was the perfect opportunity to model, create structure, and hopefully improve productivity/use of time.” Administrators felt that students were not using this time to their benefit. 

Rabbi Houben added that dividing up the freshmen class during Open Office Hours also aims to lessen social distancing challenges that had cropped up during the time.

Zoe Kaiser-Blueth feels she has “been more productive” after the new protocols were instituted, and she thinks that it has helped “us to stay socially distant.” Increasing productivity was a pivotal factor in the decision to enforce stricter Open Office Hours rules for the freshmen.

Noam Landman agrees that the recent change to Open Office Hours “keeps [him] more productive with [his] work.” However, he also noted that it “doesn’t give [him] the opportunity to socialize.” 

“Increasing productivity was a pivotal factor in the decision to enforce stricter Open Office Hours rules for the freshmen.”

Yael Mainzer feels that even with the benefits of the new protocol, the new rules, “such as not talking and no phones, are a little strict, especially if [students] have no homework to do.” 

Although students have some concerns about the new protocol, administrators hope that it will help the freshmen students succeed.