PCM faces study hall overflows

The study halls at PCM High School this semester have been large enough to put pressure on Jason Stock to keep track of up to 60  high school students all at once. With this, Principal Kristen Souza has decided to separate the students into smaller classes in separate areas. Many of the classes that are separated take place in the cafeteria and sometimes in the learning center. The main reasons that students are being moved around is to make a quiet studying environment for all students and to make it easier for staff to watch after a smaller number of students. 

“We have a really, really high number of students in study halls this semester because we have around 60  kids that are taking online DMACC classes so that means that they all have to have study halls”, Souza mentions. “Which is a great problem to have but also it makes it really really hard to make the study halls the right number where it is not super loud and it’s not hard for anyone to manage.” 

Souza is hoping that separating the study halls will make it easier for students to complete all of their homework. 

“Hopefully it’s a better learning environment for them because the study halls are gonna be smaller and a little bit quieter so that people can get work done.”

The biggest issues that needed to be addressed included the number of students in one class and the amount of free time that students have that become distractions over time. 

Souza states, “With the number of kids that were in one study hall, it’s not fair to have one person to try and monitor sixty kids that all have a bunch of free time in such a small space for that many kids.” 

Stock believes that it is important to have the students split during study hall to create a little discipline and allow all students to have time to focus on their school work. 

“A few challenging things that happened while having large study halls was that the noise level was way too chaotic”, Stock states. “It was never fair for the students that needed to complete their homework. It is hard for a teacher to manage a ton of students at once.”