Oak Hills Local School District along with Finneytown and Lockland announced early dismissal for students in buildings without air conditioning on Aug. 27th. This comes after temperatures reach as high as 104 degrees with a RealFeel up to 115 degrees. As for Oak Hills, only three of the nine schools in the district are being released early at around 12:45 p.m. This includes Bridgetown and Delhi Middle Schools and Oak Hills High School, all of which are only partially air-conditioned. In the past, high school students would be fully online for the entire school day, with the new schedule, they go to each class in person but just for about 27 minutes to keep lunch bells the same. This was the main cause for the conflicts with students’ schedules.
This brought mixed responses from the community, with first-year teacher Tyler Johnson stating that “it was nice to have more planning time, while keeping students focused and on track.” Johnson’s classroom reached 109 degrees on Thursday, with other classrooms reportedly reaching up to 113 degrees. Students had a positive response to this, with Senior Carol Ricketts voicing her support for the decision. In an interview, Ricketts stated, “I loved it. It was easier to get work done and it didn’t affect my productivity”. In fact, multiple other students in favor of the schedule stated that it didn’t affect their productivity either, with some even saying it boosted productivity by having more time at home to complete assignments or homework after school.
However, this schedule can conflict with students who study classes off-campus. As for Addison Weldele, a Senior who studies off-campus after fifth bell, the early release schedule creates a large conflict due to it moving class times around. Weldele stated “I had to stay at school in the commons for sixth and seventh bell in order to still be here for the fourth bell, when I should have already been home”. Teachers also had some disagreements with the change, Oak Hills High School English teacher Amanda Tuchfarber being one of them. Tuchfarber reported, “I feel like my classes are behind schedule with bells being shorter.”
While both arguments make strong points, remembering that this represents a new method for Oak Hills can be crucial, as the district bases its decisions on what will keep students and staff most comfortable. So, could these mixed responses cause Oak Hills to rethink their approach to high heat index days, or maintain the early dismissal schedule?
