Advisory is a little different this year. The freshmen class goes to advisory every day for 20 minutes of their lunch period, whereas the majority of the other classes don’t have advisory. The purpose of these rules is to benefit all students.
This year the Bismarck High School administration has a different idea of how to handle freshman advisory with not only changing the students schedules but also the teachers schedules.
“Freshman advisory has pretty much stayed the same as it was last year,” BHS assistant principal Lynette Johnson said. “We saw some good success with our freshman advisory and we decided instead of having one advisory teacher per freshman, we did two so that way they could double up and work together.”
The administration keeps their eyes on students in 10th-12th grade who are struggling and need help, which is why they had advisory in the first place. But, there are students who are doing really well and don’t need it.
“Let’s take the students that failed a class second semester last year and put them in advisory first semester this year,” Johnson said. “They would have advisory on the first day of the week if their grades are good, they have it off the rest of the time.”
The school has a strong emphasis on attending advisory because they see positive results. It helps teachers keep track of students who are struggling.
“Last year, the seniors did not have advisory and we ended up having a few seniors not graduate on time,” Johnson said. “Some were able to make it up in the summer.”
The ultimate goal at BHS is for students to pass their classes and be prepared for the rest of their lives. So if the administration has to change advisory they will do it.
“Two years ago, we had 51 freshmen who were reclassified so they did not meet the requirements to be a sophomore,” Johnson said. “So that’s why we made a freshman advisory.” Last year, BHS only had 23 reclassified freshmen.
BHS focuses heavily on the freshman class because they believe they are the building blocks to success.
“If you pass your classes freshman year, you’re three times more likely to graduate from highschool,” Johnson said.
There are significant changes with advisory this year but not every year is like this one.
“Instead of assigning students to tutoring rooms, they’re actually just staying with their advisory teacher,” Johnson said.