Snow-caused exam schedule changes handled in stride

Heavy snowfalls early last week shut down roadways and threw a wrench into people’s plans across Long Island. The same could be said for educators and students at Baldwin High School and Baldwin Middle School.

Last week was each school’s exam week, where students take midterms or Regents Exams. However, there were cancellations on the afternoon of Jan. 26, all day on Jan. 27 and in the morning on Jan. 28, forcing administrators to rearrange the schedule on the fly.

BHS Principal Susan Knors and BMS Principal Timothy Maher said their schools handled the changes in stride. “The students, teachers, and parents have all been extremely cooperative and understanding of the adjustments made,” Maher said last week.

In the high school, the canceled exams over a three-day period were condensed into two days last Thursday and Friday. The midterms that were canceled were revised and were planned to be administrated this week during classes, Knors said.

“This exam week presented an array of communication, scheduling, coordinating, and organizing challenges for students, parents, and faculty,” Knors said. “However, our district collaborated and got everything in place to administer the exams.”

She added that the entire school community was understanding about the weather-related adjustments and said the student body responded well to the unusual schedule. “I am very proud of all of them for amending and taking this all in stride,” she said.

BMS postponed its scheduled English Language Arts midterms last Tuesday and rescheduled it for last Thursday. “Each subsequent midterm was simply pushed back a day,” Maher said, “and we flipped the order of social studies and science [this] week.”

Maher also commended the school community for being flexible with the exam schedules, but singled out the custodial staff for making the exterior safe for people coming in and out of the buildings.

“While the rest of us were home safely on (last) Tuesday,” he said, “our dedicated custodians were working all day cleaning up the snow to allow us to safely bring our staff and students in the following day.

“The entire staff has truly been fantastic all week,” he added.