Beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, Millard West will experience changes with Quality Time as it will be more catered to help individuals with what their specific needs to focus on.

QT will remain the same Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Thursday, however, will be an extended QT, called CCR, standing for College and Career Readiness, which will be specific to grade levels. This day will mirror QUAD QT but will be weekly rather than once a month. Students will be in grade-specific QTs where they will work on skills that will help them. 

“The feedback that we got back was students were telling us that there were some opportunities out there that they probably could grow into if they had some guidance,” assistant principal Dr. Jeniffer Allen said. “They’re going to have this person that they get to have every week for all four years that will get to know them and invest in them. I think our students are going to be able to thrive with this opportunity. We want all of our students in the building to have access and equity with opportunities that are given to them.”

By having College and Career Readiness, there will be more availability to counselors and important information. If a grade has a meeting to discuss a grade-specific issue, the advisors will go down to the meeting with their students to make sure they are well-informed about the topic. In addition, counselors will be assigned to different CCRs so they will be more available for those in need. While juniors and seniors may be focusing on ACT practice and scholarships, freshmen and sophomores could work on PLPs or learn basic study strategies such as time management. CCR will have its own Google Classroom for resources and activities to help the students. 

“By having students at grade level, a teacher won’t have to speak to four different groups about different opportunities because it’s difficult to juggle that,” principal Dr. Greg Tiemann said. “On Thursdays, you’ll have one grade so you’re concentrating on one grade and focusing on what their needs are.”

A 10 minute Monday QT will also be brought back into the schedule. A 30-minute Monday QT was originally taken away as the schedule became very crunched due to the late start. The major issue came from there not being enough space in the lunchroom due to overlap. With the mezzanine and student population being down, Tiemann said this schedule change should be less of a problem as overcrowding will not be as prominent.

“A lot of people shared that Monday felt empty without seeing their students,” Tiemann said. “Some of our teachers have really connected and built great relationships so they missed their kids on Monday.”

This plan has been discussed throughout the year among staff and students alike. The Strategy 2.2 Committee, a committee of staff and administrators and Principal Advisory Board, a committee of students, held meetings to discuss how this change to QT would benefit students. 

“The QT change would be beneficial for students because it would give them more time to focus on grade-specific tasks,” sophomore Mitchell Baird said. “Ultimately, it will help them stay on track to graduate as well as give them more quality time with their peers.”

While there are mixed opinions about QT from students, this form of homeroom will help to ensure that students will get requirements done and have the resources needed. Seeing as PLPs are mandatory for graduation, Thursday QT will ensure that students get their planners done come graduation.

“Coming into freshmen year, it would have been helpful to have a similar QT structure to that of the coming years,” senior Olivia Oeth said. “It keeps the QT bond of different grade levels while also getting mandatory grade-level activities done.”

Students will meet their CCR advisor on April 16 to learn about the changes being made.