After a year-long debate, the Xavier High School Board announced the addition of two new gym semester waivers to the curriculum. With the gym waivers, students are now allowed to fill their schedules with up to eight different academic classes.
“Parents were the ones who expressed interest and brought it to the school,” Vice Principal Ms. Angela Olson said.
Parents wanted more academic opportunities for their children. After meticulous research, the board came to their decision.
“The School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) asked us to look into the possibility,” Principal Mr. Tom Keating said. “When we saw the number of students taking summer Fitness/Wellness so they could have a full academic schedule, we decided to take a look at increasing the number of academic waivers from two to four semesters. The Board of Education accepted this recommendation from the SIAC committee.”
A concern was raised when considering what would happen to our two gym teachers.
“The change should actually help balance out numbers in the Fitness/Wellness classes,” Mr. Keating said. “It will probably reduce the number of summer Fitness/Wellness students and early bird Fitness/Wellness students.”
Xavier currently offers early bird Fitness/Wellness and summer Fitness/Wellness to fulfill the gym requirement for students who fill their schedules. Many students refrain from these opportunities.
“The addition of two more waivers is going to be helpful for people who don’t want to take early bird,” sophomore Kiley McAleer said. Students are now able to maximize their schedules with help from the additional gym waivers.