Recently, the Board of Education made the executive decision to turn off PowerSchool, the system for checking grades, for the entirety of every school day. While assuming that the limited use of PowerSchool would prevent students from obsessing over grades during the school day, it is ironically doing the complete opposite. Without access to grades, the ability to focus in class is sabotaged by the endless possibilities grades endure a spiral of negative thoughts that can sabotage their ability to focus in class.

From Monday to Friday, PowerSchool is programmed to turn off from 7am-4pm. It is only after 4pm that students and parents can view PowerSchool. Many have complained of PowerSchool having not turned back on after school hours. If the school day ends at 3pm (at 2:52pm, to be exact) then why does PowerSchool not turn back on until 4pm? Not only change inconvenient, but it is pretty much pointless. It goes both ways, either the student is freaking out about the grade or about the lack thereof, regardless of the activation of PowerSchool. Despite intentions, the update is not supporting the mental well-being of students during the school day because it results in the same level of anxiety. Whether one checks a test grade at night or midday, the grade is still the same. Therefore, it will result in the same reaction, as time of day is not a factor in this scenario.

According to some teachers and staff, it is a student’s responsibility to keep track of his/her grades and maintain them. Several teachers support the idea that students only care about the numbers because, at the end of the day, the grade is what it is. However, a student should be able to check for grades during the school day. Limiting the hours increases the panic and apprehension in students’ minds. Freshman Maeve Mooney agrees saying, “I am more stressed and anxious to know my grades than before.” Similarly, sophomores Casey LaBarbera and Madeline Doyle responded that, “The timing is incredibly inconvenient and it seems that sometimes PowerSchool does not turn back on as it should.”

Why is PowerSchool automated to turn off during the school day if students are not permitted to use their phones during school hours anyway? Perhaps the issue is not with PowerSchool but with the lack of follow-through with the “No Phone Policy.” Regardless, PowerSchool is solely a platform on which students view their grades; the reactions form by the student’s performance on the exam. If students want to check their grades during lunch/off periods, they should be able to because it is not a closed campus and students are not required to remain on the school’s property during that time. Time spent away from school is considered free time, so why is only afterschool and weekends considered appropriate time to check grades?

Bad grades = Freakouts and dissatisfaction. It is as simple as that. Seeing a bad grade should inspire the student to do better, try harder during class, ask more questions, and study harder. When the grade is up on PowerSchool for viewing during the school day, it is easier to gain access to the teacher to ask for explanations and for help rather than checking it at home. Teachers and staff assume that young adults know how to healthily cope with failure, and that could not be farther from the truth. The students are not upset by PowerSchool as a system, it is the grade that provokes the reactions that is the issue.

PowerSchool is an online grading system that displays grades in a simple format and makes managing multiple siblings’ academics easier for parents and/or guardians. The system itself is not the problem, it is the reaction that students get to their own performances on the test.

Removing PowerSchool creates a hostile and impatient environment in which students constantly think about getting home to check their grades. Whether students and their families wish to check PowerSchool at 9am or at 2pm, the decision should be up to them. This topic has caused much controversy and should be subjected to a vote with all students and families involved, as it affects all of them as well.