Temporary school schedule has benefits, drawbacks

The North Vermilion High School Patriot football team plays in a tough district that does not make it easy to win.
In addition to the teams in the district, the football team is battling an unusual school schedule that has hampered the team in some ways before the season even starts.
A middle school is being built behind the high school for sixth, seventh and eighth graders due to increased enrollment.Weather along with other factors have pushed the plans of completion back, thus affecting the new school year.
For the time being, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders alternate days with the high school students. The way the schedule turns out, each group of students attend school only three days per week. With the difficulty in the schedule so far, head football coach Richard Prejean talked about the effect that the schedule has on the Patriot football team.
“It’s giving us more time to prepare which is good and bad,” Prejean admitted. “It has kind of been an issue getting kids to show up everyday because when some kids don’t have school, they are not showing up regardless if they have practice or not.”
Since the beginning of the school year, the attendance at practice has been lower than normal, but nothing too drastic. Prejean talked about how the alternating pattern of students going to school has diminished the idea of a steady routine on the field and in the classroom.
“Getting into a routine has been difficult for us,” he said. “It feels like we’re halfway in school going every other day.”
The temporary schedule consists of students attending school on Saturday, with each group of students alternating the three day schedule each week resulting in each group of students having to go to school on a Saturday.
The middle school is expected to be finished soon, and students are expected to return to a regular schedule Sep. 8, well into week two of the high school football season.
The scheduling may have an effect on the performance of the team coming out of the gate, but that remains to be seen, and coach Prejean said he believes that it should not make that much of a difference for the Patriots heading into a new season.
“It has been an uphill battle, but I don’t think it will affect the new season.”