ARHS seniors have option of using 'down time' productively

BY Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on February 16, 2007

Extra time may provide Amherst high school seniors with more opportunities.

Tuesday night, the Amherst Regional School Committee voted unanimously to allow the high school to implement a plan that would allow members of the senior class to use one of their two required study halls next year to do community projects.

The program would be voluntary and open to all seniors who wished to participate, regardless of academic status, said Amherst Regional High School Principal Mark Jackson.

"There's no 'meritocracy' here," he said.

A second study period will be added to students' schedules beginning next year, because forthcoming layoffs are forcing the school to offer fewer electives and class sections.

The program allows participating seniors to use time that would be spent in a study hall to perform community service; intern at a local business; assist teachers with classroom duties; participate in a peer education program; or other comparable activities.

Jackson did say that the new program would present some logistical challenges, including having to monitor the comings and goings of students in the program and obtaining feedback from those students to ensure that the time was being used productively.

Jackson said that the positive aspects and potential benefits of the program outweighed the negative.

The program will not require extra funding to run. Extra duties involved in the organization and supervision of the program will be done by existing staff as part of their regular duties, Jackson said at a committee meeting in January.

Now that the program has been approved, Jackson said that he plans to contact local businesses and community service organizations to encourage them to take on students who want to use their down time differently.