<p>Our high school didn’t even offer study halls. They don’t exist. All students are fully scheduled. The only exception was kids on IEPs who have a period for “academic support,” and even that wasn’t a true study hall. </p>
<p>We also cut PE. 90% of kids fulfilled their PE requirement outside of school hours, either thru an interscholastic sport or a scheduled activity that they signed up for outside of school - like dance, yoga, karate or horseback riding. A coach or instructor had to sign off that the student participated for at least 30 hours during the year. The other 10% of kids took PE one day out of every 6, during their elective period. </p>
<p>Also, due to budget cuts, our high school only allowed kids to sign up for 6 classes instead of 7. We had 6 periods per day, and every student took 6 classes. This meant that kids who chose to stay in band weren’t just worrying about giving up an AP class (which frankly, to me isn’t a huge deal) but they couldn’t even take any one semester electives like public speaking or contemporary issues (which has an honors level) because band, chorus and orchestra were all full-year classes. Maybe they should think about offering music as a semester elective…</p>