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What’s Up With FLEX in the Auditorium?


Students at Watauga High School experienced changes to FLEX sessions following an incident in the auditorium on September 1. Administrators have slightly changed how FLEX in the auditorium operates to help students be more productive and comfortable while they are attending FLEX sessions in the auditorium.


FLEX, or Focused Learning EXperiences, is time built into the school day at Watauga High School for students to receive help in areas they may be struggling or time for students to complete independent work. In past years, the auditorium has been a calm study spot for students


“It was a place where students could go and they could get work done in a quiet, dark environment,” Tierra Stark, who is an administrator at WHS, said. “There was a lot of reading and homework being done. And so our vision for this year was to bring that back.”


Following the incident, administrators realized that the auditorium was not being operated similarly to how it was in previous years.


“We realized because of the incident that maybe that [calm, independent study spot] didn’t happen,” Stark said. “And maybe we didn't do a good enough job of reminding the adults in the room and the students what that space was supposed to look like.”


Students in the auditorium should talk quietly if needed, work on homework or study, and not engage in other activities. Students are also sitting every other seat and teachers are monitoring mask wearing in effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.


“I can’t say that any of it was a change. I think that it was just a reiteration of what is supposed to be going on in there,” Stark said.


Lots of students find themselves attending FLEX in the auditorium to complete independent work, as Stark had hoped.


“If I'm not invited I go to the auditorium to get schoolwork done,” Sophomore Katie Durham said.


Students have also expressed that even though the seating arrangement in the auditorium is not the most desirable, it has helped them be more productive.


“It’s less fun because I can't talk to my friends as much, which I know that you're now supposed to do anyways, but it kinda makes me more productive,” freshman Willa Rupp said.


Some students dislike going to FLEX in the auditorium and feel that they are not productive during their FLEX period. Freshman Heatherly Armfield feels that she has nothing to do during FLEX time.


“I liked it at first, but now the auditorium has gotten really boring and really strict. I feel like there is no place to hang out with your friends,” Armfield said. “I don’t have any work after 1st block because my first block is P.E..”


However, Stark believes that FLEX time can be beneficial to students and hopes the operation of FLEX in the auditorium will return to what it was just a few years ago. The auditorium is a great place for students to read, work independently, or study.


“That’s what we envision it being, that’s what it was two or three years ago before COVID,” Stark said. “It was the place to be for the kids that just wanted to study on their own and be in a quiet environment. That’s what I envision it to be.”


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