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New MHS freshmen will be separated from upper grades
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Posted on Aug 26 2008
Marianas High School freshmen will be seeing less of their older counterparts this coming school year.
MHS is creating a freshman academy that will separate the 9th graders from the other students.
Incoming freshmen will take separate classes from the 10th, 11th and 12th grade students, MHS principal Karen Borja said. She said she hopes the move will lower the failure rate for 9th graders.
Last year, 21 percent of MHS freshmen failed, compared to 10 percent of 10th graders and 6 percent of 11th and 12th graders. The year before, nearly 30 percent of MHS freshmen failed, Borja said.
“It’s like a school within a school,” Borja said of the freshmen academy. “Hopefully [freshmen] won’t be as intimidated, won’t be influenced by peer pressure.”
Ninth grade students will also have a separate lunch period from the other students and will not be allowed to leave campus for lunch, Borja said.
She said she is hoping a separate building for the freshmen will be ready by Oct. 1, when half of the 9th graders will be moved there.
The administration had been thinking about the separation for about a year, Borja added.
Although the move takes planning, “we feel the benefit will outweigh the scheduling for support staff,” Borja said.
