The point of building homeroom into the schedule on Wednesdays and Thursdays is so that students have a dedicated amount of time to get their homework done and go see teachers to get help in their classes. Last year at West, students went to homeroom and got the freedom to work on whatever work they felt needed to get done or check in and go meet with a teacher of their choice.

This year, the administration decided to change the structure of homeroom completely. In order to be able to see a teacher, you have to be requested by the teacher you wish to see. Attendance is then taken by that teacher after you check in with your original homeroom teacher and then you have to stay in that room for the full duration of homeroom.

It is obvious that these adjustments were made to the homeroom schedule in an effort to try and decrease the amount of absences during homeroom. If students need to get help or do work, they will show up and utilize the time given to get their stuff done. All other kids who decide not to attend shouldn’t be worried about since they are making the decision not to take advantage of the time they are given.

Homeroom is only worth .25 of a credit on the transcript, not making that big of an impact on one’s GPA if they failed. Administration needs to focus on the lessons and resources available during homeroom in order to make the time more useful and valuable to students rather than forcing this complex homeroom system upon kids who don’t have incentive to show up anyway. Instead of making it harder to ditch homeroom, let kids who utilize the time use it without borders and stop trying to control the kids who are trying to ditch.