It seems assemblies are always a confusion at Hellgate. Whenever we have one it seems like there are always the splits between whether you have to go and what the schedule will look like with an assembly at the end of the day.
Take the pep rally in mid-September. When I talked with some students about it, they said some of their teachers walked them down to the courtyard to make sure they went, while others just gave them the choice.
I feel that assemblies should be a choice for the students attending and not something made mandatory. If there is something that is big news that has to be shared with the whole school and an assembly is needed, or is the best way to do that, then everyone should be informed why it’s important.
For the assemblies and pep rallies right now I do not see why it is such a big deal if students take that extra time after school for personal reasons instead of attending the assemblies.
With the new schedule changes where we have a shortened schedule, most work must be made up in person, and the time we are given to make everything up is a short 40-minute period once a week. That is our only time to do work for seven classes. If you’re sick and miss three days of school, you are expected to make up all seven of your classes for three days in that 40-minute block while catching up on what’s going on the rest of the week.
When you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, not attending an assembly or pep rally every once and a while does not seem like the biggest deal.
The communication with the schedule and timing when we have an assembly or pep rally needs to be translated better to the teachers and students. When we have an assembly there is always lots of confusion with how the day will look. It isn’t usually until my 6th or 7th period that I can actually know what the schedule looks like.
Assembly days are usually filled with lectures ending early because they get cut short by the bell and everyone rushes to pack up and get to their next class. While I understand that it’s hard to communicate with everyone in a way that makes sense, I also feel like it could be avoidable if the email about the assembly could post the bell schedule so it’s super simple to understand.
Assemblies are hard to like or get excited about when every time we have one there are communication conflicts both with timing and expectations.
