Imagine you wake up one morning, and it’s a nice day. You get dressed and go to school, all for them to call you down to the guidance counselor and tell you your LI Block is gone.
Well that’s the reality for all Lincoln Park students.
LI stands for Lincoln Interactive, a series of online courses developed by a company called Lincoln Learning Solutions. This company has provided an online curriculum to Lincoln Park since the school’s founding in 2006. It also provides curriculum to other schools, such as PA Cyber.
“It made me weary, I knew that I wouldn’t have the time to do the LI,” Sofia Buecker, a Junior Media major, added “That’s why I liked last year, because I could go to tennis, do backstage stuff, and still be able to be okay with the course.”
In the past, LI blocks were often used to fill in holes in students’ schedules. For example, if a student had an arts class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they might be able to take an LI block on Tuesdays and Thursdays to complete their schedule with an academic class.
Yet, now there’s been a pivot because Brena Price, Lincoln Park’s head guidance counselor said with the removal of the Blocks “All students need a full schedule” noting that there is no spaces for students to have an “LI Block” and adding on that now, “sometimes there’s no need to take something online because it fits into their schedule”
Understanding this, the SIREN staff interviewed students on the topic, and how they’ve navigated doing their LI Blocks with no period in school to do it.
When asked about how if it’s more difficult to complete their Lincoln Interactive course, Senior Pre-Law Major, Sage Mateer simply said, “Yes.” This was magnified again by Senior Media Major Emma McCollim, who said “It’s really not that hard to complete the LI, cause I do it after school.” but simply said “Yes,” to the course being harder to complete with the LI Blocks being removed.
However the Principal of Lincoln Park, Tonya Milsom, told us “I think more students are completing their courses on time without having the blocks.” From an administrative position removing the blocks was worth it.
As we enter the fourth quarter we have to look at this from the perspective of both sides. While the administration thinks that removing LI Blocks was good, and that LI Blocks were being used as a “free block,” most students don’t agree. Yet, regardless of that fact, the students have started to adapt and acclimatize themselves to a reality where LI Blocks are no longer a thing.
Did they start taking LI Blocks less? No, but they are changing the way in which they approach taking them altogether.
