At the new Francis Howell North High School building, there have been several new things added. One of those things are areas on each floor of the school, which many students have heard of as lounge areas.
“A lot of the wording going around is misconceived because it’s not a lounge at all, it’s not a hangout place, it’s for classroom use,” Cara McHaffie, a secretary at FHN said. “The teachers will reserve those spaces by contacting their department chair. Anyone in the department who wants to use those spaces, they just get scheduled on the calendar.”
During their hours, teachers can choose to take their students to a collaboration space, as an extension to their classroom. With the TVs on the walls, and several options of sitting, it still gives the teacher a space to teach, and the students to comfortably learn.
Students who are passing the hallways between their classes, or waiting for a class to start, are not allowed to be in the collaboration areas. This is due to being unattended while there.
“There wouldn’t be any reason why students would use them outside of class experience, because students can’t be unattended, It’s not a space where they can be throughout the day without supervision,” said Jeff Fletcher, FHN principal.
Students are not allowed in the collaboration spaces unsupervised because in case of a situation where the school would need to be evaluated, teachers and school officials would need to know where their students are located. That would be a problem if you are in the collaboration area’s without a staffer/teacher knowing where you are.
“If we have a lockdown or a fire emergency, we can’t account for those students”, McHaffie says. “If there’s someone in the building that we don’t know where they were, that is gonna be a problem for us being accountable for everyone and making sure they are okay.”
Aside from the spaces being for teachers, there are a few situations where the students could use the spaces. With the new rule of traveling to class after the 7:05 bell rings, students could use this space in the 15 minutes that they have to gather themselves before class starts or before heading to their class.
Overall, the collaboration spaces are not lounges where students can just hang out, but an extra area where teachers can take their students and teach. These spaces are only for that use and it is prohibited that students use this space without supervision or reasonable cause.
