In past articles, the West Press has written about Lakota West’ block days: Article 1 and Article 2– Before, the main focus has been on the unnecessarily long and extended time students are in class, but now, the issue is within the purpose of Block Days:”Extra Help”. Block days are days at the Lakota West Main Campus in which students grades 10-12 only go to certain classes on certain days. On Wednesdays, students go to their first, third, fifth, and seventh bell; and on Thursdays, students go to their second, fourth, fifth (only class that’s every day), and sixth bell. These classes are all 1 hour and 30 minutes long. Reason being to squeeze in a mere 35 minutes of XH (extra help) time where students can go to any teacher to receive any extra help they need. So what’s the problem?
The Problem
As of 2025-26, Lakota West High School no longer allows students to move out of their classrooms for their Wednesday block day. So let’s get all the problems with this in order. First: 35 minutes is not enough time to get help. To get settled and give teachers the pass to move out the classroom takes up about 5 minutes. Yes, this can be done during passing time, but remember, there’s only one day to get help, and when everyone’s trying to get help at the same time, that creates traffic. Then, there’s the time to get to the actual classroom. Depending on how fast one may walk, and the amount of people in the hallway, that can take up to 3-7 minutes. So far, a little more than 10 minutes of time has been used unintentionally from the 35 minutes that’s given. Finally, you arrive and get help. Except there’s 4 other students waiting to be tutored by one teacher. Block Days are made to provide students an easier way to reach out for academic support, but it’s not executed well, and that’s a problem. For the second point: XH as we now know doesn’t serve a great purpose. It’s understood that some people skip XH and try to camp out in the bathroom instead of going to class, but that issue should have already been taken care of. This high school now has “SmartPasses” which shows teachers where students are and what time they should arrive at their destination. If that plan is faulty, then that’s something the administration needs to figure out. But we need to start looking at the majority, the ones who so desperately need help. What’s the point of even having block days on Wednesdays if nobody can move out? Is it meant for a study hall? Because that’s barely enough time. Keep in mind that XH is at the end of the day; students are already worn out, the class they needed help in already passed. It’s just an arbitrary time slot that needs to be filled, might as well be another lunch break, the only difference is 5 minutes. For my third and final point, this can be fixed, so why act like it can’t? Everyone should know that Wednesday block days don’t serve a purpose anymore. Nobody can move, nobody can get help. A study hall for the same time as lunch break doesn’t do anything, and sitting in class for more than an hour sure won’t keep a teenager’s attention for too long. So let’s change it! A better idea would be something like 30 minute classes, and one long bell to study/get help. Or if that’s not a great idea, then one day out of the week of regular 45 minute classes, but it’s more of a review/catch up day.
It’s up to the school what they will do, but I’m sure it will positively impact struggling students to give them more time to ask questions.
