Eagle Block is a fantastic, leisurely period spliced into two sections where students can relax in one half and enjoy their lunch on the other.
However, the way Eagle Block is particularly being administered is flawed for numerous reasons, focusing more on strict, redundant measures than ensuring students have the freedom and peace of mind they deserve.
There are three issues with the current system: it is slow and inefficient, students are excessively restricted, and it is generally wasteful. My proposal is set to solve all of these problems and maintain the integrity of the current benefits of this system, including not letting students mindlessly skip and wander around the school while having the 1A-4B system still in place.
The solution to this problem is implementing FlexTime Manager. This application, which was last around during the 2023-2024 school year, allows students to choose where they want to go digitally during Eagle Block.
Currently, you can only go to a teacher’s room during Eagle Block for a certain period of time, and there’s also the hassle of getting the pass itself from the teacher to your default Eagle Block and back. With FlexTime Manager, students would receive the flexibility to go wherever they need without restriction.
On top of that, the concurrent 1A-4B system could automatically be incorporated by default. Essentially, this means that if students don’t want to choose a different room, they would just go to their current block pertaining to that system, but it would give other students flexibility, maintaining the status quo while providing students with another pivotal option.
Samuel Comeau, a 12th grade student, agreed with this idea: “[FlexTime Manager] should automatically put you in instead of always having to sign up.”
A reason why this system was dismissed was because of the cost, but there are many other programs that have the same functionality. Either way, this could be a good price to pay to keep both students productive and teachers less stressed.
EJ BayBay, another 12th grader, expressed his issue with having such a system: “I feel like it’s a really good idea, but it needs a lot of work because people aren’t going where they’re supposed to be going, and there’s not really a clean solution to that.”
Although some may argue having this system in place will prompt the students to skip their session, the website would automatically be able to detect who is not following the rules and they can be given reprimands.
Additionally, the current system hinders students from club participation due to the strict time periods where students can use passes. Ralph Dunbar, another 12th grade student who is the president of the Chess Club, stated how having an unrestricted Eagle Block is imperative for scheduling meetings.
“Eagle Block is very essential for our club activities as we are able to support clubs after school for certain ideals because if there’s too many other activities going on during this time, so it’s very flexible way for us to make meetings and make time.”
Since the system is now flawed, he had to discontinue the club entirely. He also
EJ also expressed this problem. “What I don’t like is how rigid it is as they took away Eagle Block passes every day. So you’re not able to see certain teachers on certain days and you’re supposed to plan accordingly.
Although no system is perfect, having FlexTime Manager or another digital system similar in nature would be ideal for allowing students to optimize their time.
