Carbon School District Press Release
This year, there has been a lot of changes at Carbon High. The new administration at the school has been excited about everything that is going on and the challenges that they are facing.
“We are so happy to be a part of Carbon High School,” said Principal Chris Winfree in expressing the feelings of he and his co-administrators Karen Bedont and Jarad Hardy. “We have a great group of teachers and staff who work very hard to help students succeed.”
Winfree said that one of the goals of the administration and staff this year was to reduce the number of performance problems (D and F grades) by students at the school. He said the school, which now has 1,000 students, has had more of those grades than it should’ve in the past.
“We were excited to see as the data came in from the first quarter to ascertain if what we had done to mitigate that problem was working,” he said. “The information showed that we have gone from 35 percent of the students in the school having at least one D or F in the first quarter last year to 28 percent this year. That shows the programs we have instituted are working.”
Those measures include a program called Flextime, an intervention program that includes time every day for students who are having problems with their grades to work on grades and learning situations.
“In this program, students can get the help they specifically need from teachers,” he stated. “One of the challenges that students face is when they need help from a teacher because they have missed school for one reason or another, or when they fall behind, that help comes either before school or after school. That can be problematic for many students.”
The program provides time on Tuesday through Friday, between 11:49 am and 12:14 PM. There are priority days set for different subjects.
“We also have students who are not assigned to a fixed Flextime class but choose to go to teachers during that time to either bring up their grades or to gain a greater understanding of a subject or area they are struggling in,” said Winfree. “We have seen some tremendous success stories by using this Flextime concept.”
Winfree said that they are still struggling with some parts of the program, and he understands that with it being new, “it has its flaws.” Some students haven’t taken to heart that the program is not optional when they are assigned to go.
To find more information about FLEX at Carbon, please go to the school’s website by accessing www.carbonschools.org and clicking on Carbon High School under the “sites” tab. From there, scroll down to “see all news.” On that page, scroll down until you find 2019-2020 Carbon High Policies and Expectations. There is a slideshow there that explains FLEX as well as other new/existing policies and procedures.