On Monday, December 17th, it was said one could tell the moment administration turned off the OnCampus gradebook, as the cafeteria was filled with wails, or hushed, fearful tones. After that, the gradebook couldn’t be accessed by students until January 7th, three weeks later. Supposedly, this created a low stress environment for both teachers and students. But did it, really?

Many students say that it caused more stress. Emily Quinn, a junior, said that although she didn’t mind the grades being off over Christmas break, the fact that students couldn’t access them during midterms and the first week back was very frustrating.

“It’s a nice idea honestly… turning them off over Christmas break,” Quinn said. “But the extra week [after break] was just kind of ridiculous, you know? My stress increased instead of decreased.”

Missy Marazzo, a senior agrees. She too enjoyed the break from grades over the Christmas holiday, but wished students had access to the grades as soon as break was over. Rose Langrehr, another senior, added that when the grades were turned off, she felt quite stressed, although after a while, she said she “just kind of forgot about it.”

Mrs. Fundakowski, who was involved in turning off the grades for students, explained that the grades were turned off in the hopes to relieve some of the students’ stress.

“The reality is…students are continually checking their grades, but at that point once you’ve already taken the exam the outcome has already been decided,” she said. “There’s nothing you can do, so stressing over it doesn’t help at all.”

Although the main complaint from the students is that the grades were turned off for too long, Fundakowski said that decision was also for the students’ benefit. It was the hope of administration that the teachers would be able to discuss midterm grades with the students before everyone found out via the gradebook.

“I’m a firm believer that the grades belong to the student, and I believe the students have the right to find out about the exam grades before the parents do,” Fundakowski said. “I was hoping that most teachers would have conversations with their students in class, so you [the students] could go home and have a conversation with your parents, rather than getting a text during the school day with your parent’s opinion on whatever grade you got.”

In addition to helping the students, turning the student access off helped the teachers as well. It is common for students to begin asking their teachers immediately for their midterm grades.

“I think the teachers really appreciated the break,” said Fundakowski. “Because even if some teachers are really fast at grading their exams, many are not… and I just wanted to give them that opportunity to grade and analyze the exam results without the pressure of awaiting students.”