During the first quarter, after the bell rings on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, students flood into their Connections classes, and immediately pull out their phones. Now, as this class has been reduced to once a week, students have been bonding without the distractions of their phones and have taken better advantage of the 20 minute break in the school day.
The reduction in Staples’ Connections – a gathering period at Staples where students are assigned to a small, grade level advisory group with the same staff member for all four years – was made to protect instructional time after the phone ban altered the schedule, requiring five additional minutes at the end of the day for students to retrieve their phones from lockers.
Although the reduction has one goal, aiming to protect instructional time, its impact isn’t the same for everyone. While some students and teachers say the change barely affects their days, others believe it changes how relationships form, specifically for freshmen who rely more on structured check-ins to feel grounded.
“I think having Connections twice a week helped build relationships when students were freshmen,” social studies teacher Kelly Zrenda said. “Now that my students are juniors, those relationships are already there.”
Although it may not be a significant change, meeting twice a week was a nice break for both teacher and students, giving them a moment to reset during the school day.
“Two meetings were nice, but one is still doable,” social studies teacher Carol Kaye said. “My ninth graders love the activities. They’re fun, and they all talk. I liked meeting with my Connections class twice a week.”
For upperclassmen, the reduced schedule feels far less meaningful. Many already have established friends and routines and no longer rely on the support from their Connections class anymore.
“I don’t like the idea of connections; I end up just doing class work quietly by myself,” Alexa Wolff ’27 said.
While upperclassmen may not feel a significant difference, some teachers may worry that freshmen who are still adjusting to the high school environment may miss the more frequent check in that helped previous classes connect more quickly.
“My Connections class was nice because it gave me a group of people to talk to and it helped me get a sense of knowing where to go,” Olivia Guimond ’29 said.
In addition to Connections now meeting only once a week, the class is also officially phone-free, a change that’s new for all students in the building. Without devices, students are encouraged to engage more with their teacher and classmates at a level that wasn’t always present before. According to teachers, the shift is already working.
“They definitely talk to each other more at the start of class now,” Zrenda said. “It’s also less of a struggle to get them to put their phones in the holders. They jump into conversations a lot faster.
