One of the most anticipated events of the year at Friends’ Central is mini-courses. A collection of three-day seminars in a variety of subjects would peak anyone’s interest, especially because it means time off from core classes. Yet, as the courses approached, tragedy struck. Due to an overwhelming amount of snow days and hazardous weather conditions, mini-courses have been postponed until further notice. An email from Ms. Quinn details the change:
“With school canceled today (Wednesday), and the possibility of significant weather-related issues or delays into Thursday, we have decided to postpone mini-courses until later this spring. […] Once we return from spring break, I will work with Middle School teachers to identify the best three-days to reschedule mini-courses. The courses themselves and students’ placements in the groups will remain the same. We will notify you of the new dates and send amended permission slips when the details are finalized.”
The new dates have yet to be released, but the staff is working to reschedule. A staff meeting occurring tomorrow, April 12, will focus on the delay. “We will discuss the best dates for the rescheduling so that they don’t interfere with other things that are already planned,” said Ms. Quinn on the meeting. “They should be decided by the end of the week.” The rescheduling will not focus on classwork conflicts, rather it will be planned around upcoming events like the eighth grade trip to Paradise Farms, the Day of Silence, and the all-school assembly: “It’s more likely that those types of special activities and days are the ones that we’ll try to avoid, as opposed to worrying about projects and tests, which can be moved easily.” As a result, it’s likely that mini-courses will occur in May rather than late April. Ms. Quinn stated that they would not simply cancel the courses because, “We love mini courses as much as students do, and canceling would have been sad.”
Coach B, a first-time mini-course advisor, says that the postponement was the right decision because, “if we tried to go ahead with mini-courses during the week where there was bad weather, you were going to get half a mini-course instead of a full one.” Fortunately, the rescheduling did not have any profound impact on her mini-course schedule. While it is unfortunate that we missed out on our pre-Spring Break activities, mini-courses will continue!