Changes coming to JHS

Brian Smith

news@jacksboronewspapers.com

Two major changes will affect Jacksboro High School students for the upcoming school year, which begins next Wednesday, Aug. 17.

JHS Principal Starla Sanders announced the changes earlier this summer at a school board meeting, but went more into logistics as the school year approached. Sanders said both changes are meant to help get more of a “back to basics” approach with 19 new staff on campus this Fall.

“We need to put instruction back where it belongs,” Sanders explained. “Having the 19 new staff members seemed the right time to do it. We need to get some pride back in school and a big reset for our campus.”

The three years since COVID-19 have seen many changes and cultural shifts in society and at JHS as well that Sanders says she doesn’t not want to see. Attendance from students and relationships between everyone is another thing that needs to improve as well.

The two changes will begin with the start of the new school year Aug. 17.

One of the changes will be a 30-minute period, the new seventh period, which will serve as a response to intervention (RTI) period. It will be customized for each class and be fluid throughout the year, Sanders explained. Each grade level will have its needs met differently, Sanders said.

For the 85 new freshmen it will be a “Tiger Nation 101” to help students get ready for life at JHS and get accustomed to many of the changes from middle school to high school and gain some leadership classes at the same time.

Sophomores will be focusing on culture changes that Sanders feels are important for them and on their academics. She and the staff hope to address that. Individual instruction will hopefully aid in that, Sanders noted.

Sophomores will be given more individualized attention with only a maximum of eight in their group at any one time.

Juniors and seniors will be a group amongst themselves. Both classes receive assistance with how to apply for the SAT and ACT as well as individual work on how to take the test and get ready for college. Seniors will receive academic support and work on colleges as well.

“I really hope that period will be a class period where the kids can grow and find a place they can go to; a teacher they like and can talk to and that they can rely on,” Sanders said. “I think it’s something that every kid needs. ”

The other change will involve not being allowed to use cell phones in class. Phones will be placed in a shoe holder like carrier which they will put their phones during class. Phones will be picked up after class and can be used during passing period or at lunch, Sanders said.

Phones, most notably misuse of the phone, became a major discipline problem at JHS last year, including cyberbullying, students videoing things that shouldn’t have been videoed or hearing something that happened in another class and spreading the word.

Sanders said staff had been too lenient with phone usage in the past and that stops now.

“It had become a huge distraction, so we’re hoping to alleviate the issues the phones were causing,” Sanders noted. “We’re not trying to take their phones. We don’t want their phones. They just can’t be out in the classroom. We don’t want them using them in the classroom.”

In a benefit of the new change, Sanders said some teachers have even gone so far to buy charging stations for the phones in class so students will have a charged phone for the times they can use it, Sanders said.

The changes are not meant to be detrimental, but are “a step in the right direction,” according to Sanders.