The second semester began this week for Verndale High School students and the Guided Study Hall program can began tracking new data.
Guided study hall sessions began Nov. 2 with one main object in mind - teaching students a life lesson about completing their work.
Verndale students in grades 9-12 had 586 uncompleted assignments on Nov. 2. As of Jan. 18 that number stood at 425.
Students who contacted their teachers prior to the end of the semester about uncompleted assignments had 10 days to turn their work in or receive an incomplete grade.
Verndale Secondary Principal Tom Riitters noted at Monday night's January meeting of the District 818 school board that 276 of the 425 assignments were divided among eight students.
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In addition to a break at the midday students can work on their assignments before and after school with the help of tutors.
"We give them plenty of options," Riitters said.
Riitters acknowledged that the 425 missing assignments do not appear to be a big drop from the 586 that were incomplete Nov. 2, but he likes the direction the numbers have taken.
"That's in addition to all of the other assignments they have been given over that 2 1/2 month span," Riitters said.
Riitters plans to meet with the eight students who accumulated the bulk of the unfinished work in an effort to help them on track in the coming semester.
The lesson Riitters and his faculty hope to teach is that responsibility counts for a lot in any situation.
"You have your personal life away from work and I have mine but we still have to come in and get our work done," Riitters said.
