The Board of Education and the Princeton Public Schools administration are two bodies meant to represent the needs of PHS. Given this, it’s appalling to recall the events of the board meeting held on February 23 — two hours of presentations meandering around the controversial proposed schedule changes followed by three hours spent by students and members of the community lambasting the panelists. The meeting resulted in a simple resolution to not move forward with the schedule changes, a situation that could have been avoided altogether if students were given more input. This controversy and result highlighted that good-faith discussion between administrators, the board, and the community is severely lacking and that our few opportunities to give feedback as students need to be taken more seriously.

Prior to the meeting, Interim Superintendent Dr. Barry Galasso, on behalf of the board and PPS administrators, released a proposed spring schedule which would have extended targeted learning to 75 minutes per period. He and the board aimed to provide more class time for students, but additional time spent on Zoom is the last thing that we need. After receiving feedback from students at a stakeholder meeting, the board and administration released a new schedule with five 60-minute blocks for five days a week, an “alteration” that didn’t reduce the time spent on Zoom at all. This solution was essentially a Band-Aid on a broken bone that did nothing for students’ mental health. Unsurprisingly, the reluctance to enact meaningful or wanted change became the  community meeting’s main controversy.

This frustration was especially evident during the public forum section, arguably the most important part of the meeting because participants could give feedback to representatives. Parents, teachers and students were exasperated with not only the proposed schedule but also the strictly enforced two-minute time restriction, which was not nearly enough for anybody to fully articulate meaningful thoughts.

As members of the community voiced outrage at the board and Galasso alike, several panelists became dismissive, occasionally not paying attention altogether. For instance, Michael Volpe, Assistant Superintendent for Human Services, and Matthew Bouldin, Board Secretary, were at times visibly scrolling on their phones. However, some members of the board genuinely wanted to hear out community voices, even though the meeting had already run for hours. After a quick vote, the meeting was permitted to run almost into midnight.

With all of the chaos, outrage, and miscommunication surrounding the district’s handling of remote learning, it’s no wonder students are feeling spiteful. This is the latest instance of being talked over by administrators and Board members during the pandemic, a problem that was also demonstrated with the removal of Friday reading days and the addition of a mandatory cameras-on policy. However, despite the negative feelings, we also need to realize that this meeting did something new. The district finally acknowledged the anger that was demonstrated by the 100 or so speakers and around 1,000 attendees at the meeting, and we need to take advantage of the credence that is now being lent to our opinions.

We already know what happens when students don’t get proper input regarding learning changes: No one wins. Board members and administrators are tone-deaf to the actual needs of students and then have to deal with the subsequent backlash when we rightfully express anger at being talked over. How many parents have needed to send emails to Valley Road on behalf of their children?

In order to continue forward with greater emphasis on students, Galasso is currently meeting with a group of 15 student representatives to help formulate a new schedule. This is a move in the right direction on the part of the administrators and board, but students need to have the same maturity and respect as we turn the page for a more democratic district. Youtube compilations of “funny” moments from the meeting and speeches insulting BOE members only show our immaturity and make the district less likely to consider our viewpoints. Instead, we must remain respectful and mature in our disagreements.

Ultimately, the district decided to move forward with a mostly unchanged schedule, the main difference being that Fridays would begin at 8:20 a.m. and are in-person like all the other weekdays. Yet many students, resentful of the policies at the meeting, were caught unaware of the new schedule. We need to move past the phase of blind outrage at the board and pay attention to the real effects of our feedback instead of becoming complacent or angry at the board’s actions, which will only deepen the divide between them and the students, we must hold both the board and the administration accountable while being mature about our role in future discourse if we want to have a high school that better serves its students and teachers.