“I think It’s great when the school gathers to learn about different people, worldwide events, and more.”–9th grade student
“They should be required because there is important information, but they are too long. If they should continue to be this long, I think assemblies/meetings should be after nutrition instead of the assembly before it.”–10th grade student
“There are way too many, I feel like they should be once a month, not twice a week”–11th grade student
“They feel pointless, plus most of the stuff they say can be posted on social media or emailed.”–12th grade student
On Wednesdays and Fridays after the second class of the day, the school organizes mandatory meetings for students. These meetings can consist of speeches, announcements or prayers and usually take place during bonus period.
To find out how students feel about these meetings, The Prowler conducted an anonymous poll where students ranked their opinion of mandatory assemblies on a scale of 1-10. (1 being the least favorable and 10 being the most), wrote what they liked and disliked about these meetings, and described a specific town hall they liked, if they could think of one.
A Kehilah held on Nov. 13 featuring a video and a speech from an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldier was particularly popular among students. Five of the 14 students who mentioned an assembly they enjoyed chose that meeting, and another three of those 14 students chose spirit rallies. Seventeen students did not mention a specific meeting.
A majority of students polled had relatively unfavorable views on town halls, with 61% of the respondents giving a rating of 5 or lower.
Ninth and 10th graders tended to have more mixed opinions while 12th graders felt slightly more negative about meetings, and 11th graders had the lowest opinion of mandatory meetings with no junior giving a higher score than a 4.
Gregg Keer, the school’s dean of students, plays a large role in organizing town halls and other school assemblies at de Toledo. On Nov. 14, The Prowler conducted an interview with Mr. Keer to discuss mandatory school assemblies and why they are valued by the school.
“There are many instances in one’s life where [students are] going to have to know how to be in a large group setting and [it’s important] when we’re together that we feel something–that we are indeed a community. When we are off doing our own things, that’s lovely,” Keer said, “but it’s not always the right thing to do in the context.”
Keer said he understands that students may not enjoy these meetings in the moment, but by being required to attend, they have the opportunity to experience things together as a community. Keer used the well-received Nov. 13 Kehilah with an IDF soldier as an example: “If we did [the] video of that IDF soldier and everybody [was asked to watch] it on their own time, I don’t think that everyone would watch it, [and] I don’t think that they would have the same emotional experience because they’re not watching it together.”
When polled about these meetings, however, only one of the 31 students in the poll mentioned that they felt a strong sense of community.
Click here to see the full results of the survey.
