The new school year has brought many changes to Malden, from new changes at the high school to district wide decisions.
Some of the most significant changes that have occurred so far are the new schedule changes including homeroom everyday and more passing time to arrive to class.
Last year, the school only had homeroom every Tuesday and “it was not successful,” according to Chris Mastrangelo, the principal of Malden High who witnessed the consequences of having no homeroom last year.
Students and teachers disfavored having homeroom only once a week. Before the 2017-2018 school year, homeroom used to be 10 minutes long everyday. Mastrangelo decided to shorten homeroom this year to seven minutes every morning instead of ten.
Having homeroom has helped limit the amount of mistakes teachers made when marking students for attendance and improved participation for students that are tardy. “[The school has] seen a decrease in tardies already this year than [they] have last year” says Mastrangelo. With a new system of attendance, students who come in late now sign-in at the main entrance, which has helped keep track of who gets to school on time. Mastrangelo hopes that this system is a permanent solution and that it works well enough to stay for upcoming years.
In addition, the district has changed all Malden Public Schools to have early release to Friday once a month. In previous years, Malden High had Monday early releases at 1:45. Mastrangelo states that “getting rid of Monday early release… actually helped [the school] bring back homeroom.” The school has to have a certain amount of hours a year and taking away Monday early releases benefited the new schedule with longer passing time.
Another change this year also includes the new Student Study Center, previously known as Big Study. The new Student Study Center is located in room H102 and run by Paula Valente. The previous Study Center was in the Gallery, which has caused many concerns regarding the space. Valente states that the new study “[provides] more of a classroom environment as well as [addresses] a major safety concern” that the school previously had. There were no locks on doors and the whole room was overlooked with windows that also lead to the courtyard.
“It is not a permanent solution but it is a band aid until there is another study center set up but this will involve hiring another person. The room is not built to accommodate over 100 students with one adult supervisor,” says Valente. Valente is pleased with her new room and says that it “is a nice change as students cannot be walking in and out during class time and lunchtime.” Mastrangelo has suggested that the Gallery was never meant to be an area for students to work. The Gallery is now used for educator meetings and conferences, city events, and artwork.
Along with the new changes, there have been discussions about the limited parking space of Malden High and acquiring IDs.
Parking at Malden High is very difficult due to the limited space and no student parking lot. This has become a continual problem for students and teachers. This situation, so far, will not have a solution due to lack of space around Malden High.
School safety has been an ongoing topic of interest this past year. One of the many reasons that Mastrangelo wants to enforce student IDs is to keep track of students when coming into the building. Senior privileges was also taken away due to the fact that people were leaving when they were not supposed to. At the moment, IDs will not appear in the near future, since there are too many complications to figure out first.
Overall, Malden Public Schools are continuing to consider changes to the school that will make it a more convenient and safer experience for students and staff alike.
