![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
![All smiles. The group poses for a photo with last year’s book, “This is Our House,” along with their award for third Best in Show. Meikle, who was an Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook last year as well, holds both and stands at the center of the group. “That was an amazing feeling, going and grabbing the third place award,” Meikle said. “All of it paid off. I cried so much over that book, being able to receive [the award] was one of the highlights of my high school career, it was like the coolest thing ever.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/8bookpose_philly-1200x800.jpg)
What students wouldn’t want a half-day every month? Beginning today, WLHS will be implementing a new system of half-day Wednesdays that will not only provide students with additional studying or recreational time, but they will also allow the staff more time for development and the students more time in the classroom.
“The days are meant to be set up for professional development for staff,” Lou Bailey, principal, said. “As a school and district, due to teacher negotiations and calendar, we lost several days of professional development for teachers.”
The days, implemented throughout the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, will allow students to have more in-school days as opposed to furlough days, according to Bailey.
The school calendar has two more days in it this year, and in addition to increasing the learning time for students, according to Bailey, these half-days will allow the teachers more time to think about their teaching and enhance their lesson plans.
“This gives the staff meaningful time to talk with and work with their colleagues about teaching and learning,” Bailey said. “This time is not time to sit in their classroom and grade papers, but a time to work professionally with colleagues and admin around higher levels of learning for kids and strategies to create more effective teaching.”
Students agree that this will be more beneficial to the staff at the school, according to Gabriel Weitz, junior.
“I think that these days will be more fair to the teachers, instead of the furlough days we had last year,” Weitz said.
One of the only problems that students have faced with these half-days is the way that they were communicated to them. The information was available in the student planner and on the website, but most students found out from their friends.
“I didn’t even know this Wednesday was a half-day until a couple of days ago,” Renton said. “I heard from other students, not from my teachers.”
On these half-days that started today, students will have a six period day with classes running 35 minutes long. They will be let out for lunch at 12:30 p.m., and the buses will leave the school at 1:15 p.m.
