Tallmadge City Schools originally planned to go back into school after winter break Jan. 6. This gave three days to teachers to review before final exams came the next week. These plans were altered, with students remaining online Jan. 6-8,  coming back into school Jan. 11 for in-person classes. The decision was made that students would no longer have to take finals for their first semester classes. 

Jen Stewart, the vice-principal, brought this concern to the Building Improvement Team (BIT) committee before finalizing the decision. The members, teachers and staff, took a look at a lot of different points like “the philosophy of finals, mental health, and academic pressure on our students during the pandemic, need for additional instruction time.” They decided it would be best for the school to not have finals.

The week of Jan. 11 was originally planned to be finals week. These days are now in-person school days following the hybrid schedule. 

Final grades will now be determined by averaging the students first quarter grade and their second quarter grade. Rules stay the same, where students must get a passing grade in order to pass the class. 

“Grades will be determined with 50%-1st quarter and 50%-2nd quarter determining the overall final grade for the course,” Stewart said. 

For many teachers and students, this was a good decision for their classes. Teachers have more instructional time to get through what they need to send their students to future classes. 

English teacher Tom Rozborski said, “Cancelling final exams this semester was the right call. With the hybrid schedule and uncertainty of scheduling due to the spike of the pandemic, requiring final exams would have put incredible stress on both the teachers and students at a time when stress is the last thing we need.”