Due to District 95’s snow days, LZHS has had to move the week of final exams further back. As a result, many students have been asking to reschedule their final exams earlier than the actual week of finals, but according to administration, students will not be allowed to test early.

    Teachers are not allowed to give final exams early due to a loss instructional time, according to an email sent by Eric Hamilton, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, to faculty and staff. If a student were to take their finals early, it would put the teacher in a position in which they would have to fix the final exam without knowing how much material to include, Hamilton said. However, students do have the option to come back to the school during the summer to take any final exams they may need rescheduled.

    “I think [not allowing students to take their finals early] is great because to put together a [final exam] for a student, before [the assigned testing], you have to edit it to what they have [not learned],” Peter Ternes, history teacher, said. “You might even have to change it completely because now [the student is] taking a final that everybody else is going to take and you don’t know if they’re going to tell somebody about it. And there’s nothing saying that you can’t take it when you come back anyway.”

    If a student will not be in school during finals week, he/she needs to pick up and fill out a form from the main office stating that he/she will be rescheduling their finals for over the summer. Until the test is taken, the teacher will give the student an ‘Incomplete’ for the semester.

Exams taken over the summer are not expected to be graded by the teacher until school starts again in August, according to Hamilton’s email.

“[Not allowing students to reschedule to take their final exams before finals week] just makes the process a lot easier,” Ternes said. “It makes it more practical for us teachers as well as administration.”