Winds of change at OHS

School started three days ago, and Odessa High School already feels like a different campus.

Watching students pass through the hallways, the changes are apparent. The hallways are empty during class time, and students move in an orderly fashion during the passing period. Teachers are in the hallways greeting students, and assistant principals move through the hallways like sharks, causing clusters of students to skitter away like nervous fish.

Denise Shetter was named principal of Odessa High School during the summer. She moved into the main office, put her pictures on the walls, her books in the bookshelves and then rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Shetter has created a program called “Freshman Academy” for the students who are too old to be in junior high to help them catch up on their credits. Students who forget their ID badges or are tardy, get temporary badges and register as tardy in the classroom, to cut down on the time they are missing. A student walking the hallway during classes can expect to be asked where he or she is going. Students caught drifting between classes can expect to be noticed.

Shetter is making minor adjustments around the school, but each tweak of the system is calculated to inch her closer to her goal — to focus on education.

English teacher Hortencia Del Bosque has been at OHS for the past six years.  She said she likes the changes because it is moving the school in the right direction, putting emphasis on getting students into the classroom.

“It’s been a lot of changes all at one time, but, it’s like Ms. Shetter told us, sometimes when you’re tackling so many problems, it’s better to go ahead and deal with the changes all at once. It’s been rough making all of these changes, but it really is better to get them all done now,” Del Bosque said.

Sophomore and junior science and math classes are now being divided based on gender. There are all-male classes, all-female classes and sets of mixed classes of each subject, something she tried as the principal of Bowie Junior High School with great success. The math and science scores for OHS students tend to be low, and studies have found that students learn better this way, Shetter said.

“It doesn’t cost anything, it won’t hurt the students, and it may really help some of them get better, so why not try it?” Shetter said.

Science teacher Gary Petersen said he liked the change so far.

“I’ll try anything if it’ll work. I think it’s great idea. The students still have hormones, but, here, they just aren’t in action,” Petersen said.

The school administration will also be taking a different approach to pep rallies this year. Pep rallies were traditionally held in the morning, but they will now take place in the afternoon.

“The faculty sat down with me, and they were adamant that we start holding them in the afternoon, because it’s just too disruptive for class time. I agreed with them, so that’s what we’re doing,” Shetter said.

Passing periods have changed. Last year, the electronic whir of school bell unleashed about 3,000 students into the halls of the school at once. This year, OHS has adopted a staggered passing period. Now, juniors and seniors are given five minutes to move through the halls. Once they are in their classrooms, sophomores are released while principals and teachers stand in hallways.

Instead of having three grade level principals, the school has now been divided into corrals, something similar to the Permian High School “den” system. There are five assistant principals, and the student body is now divided up alphabetically, with each principal in charge of about 560 students.

“We had a meeting over the summer, and I asked each principal if they felt like they really knew their kids … I didn’t like the answers to that, so we decided to try it this way,” Shetter said.

The reception to the changes has been mixed. The kids seem more wary as they move through the halls, as if they know they are being watched.

There has been some grumbling — Shetter said she knows some people have dubbed her “The Nazi” because of all the changes she has instituted. The seniors have been circulating a petition, asking her to stop dividing the sophomore and junior math classes by grade level. There’s been a rededication to enforcing the dress code and both teachers and students have complained about the dress code, but Shetter said she knows this is all just part of the process.

“It’s all new to them, and it’s not part of the culture yet,” Shetter said.

Senior Nate Navarrete said he has liked the changes so far, even if it is an adjustment.

“It feels like we’re more focused on learning, but I just feel like we’re being more closely watched. I think it’s better, keeping track of kids in the hall and having kids check in for tardies and IDs when they’re already in class, but it’s just a change,” Navarrete said.