A Senior Year Privilege Faces New Limits at SHS

Southington High School CTPHOTOPRO PHOTO

Southington High School Principal Richard Aroian returned to work last fall after surgery and watched from his office as seniors packed the main exit.

“I was watching roughly 250 to 300 students leave the building early at the end of third block every single day,” Aroian said. “It just got me thinking, that’s so many wasted opportunities for those kids.”

Aroian’s observation, which was confirmed by a year of data from a school committee, is one reason senior dismissal at Southington High will look very different this fall.

By the Numbers: The Scope of the Problem

 

Aroian presented on the problem and the new policy along with world language department leader Tina Riccio and math teacher Marisa Kudla at the May 7th Board of Education (BOE) meeting.

During the 2025-26 school year, they reported, seniors at SHS left after third block, which ends around 12:15 or 12:45, depending on a student’s lunch wave. The presentation data showed that, during the fall, between 269 and 307 students were leaving on A and B days; during the spring, between 301 and 327 students were leaving. Given a total class size of 477, that works out to between 56% and 69% of the seniors leaving early on at least one rotation day.

Of the seniors leaving early, 252 or 54%, had failed a class, not just the classes required to graduate.

“It was very eye-opening,” BOE Chairman Zaya Oshana said. “I believe it surprised the entire board.”

Oshana said early dismissal began as a benefit for students who had jobs after school or were in a work-study program. Over time, he said, it grew well beyond that purpose, reaching beyond the senior class.

For Aroian, the bigger loss is what students give up by leaving. SHS offers numerous courses that carry college credit and mentioned that early dismissal was a missed opportunity to save real money.

“The 25 is the minimum. It’s not the maximum,” Aroian said, indicating the credits a student needs to graduate.

He mentioned that a one dual-enrollment course could save a family as much as $30,000 to $40,000 in future college tuition. He also spoke of seniors at risk of not graduating who refused to stay for extra help because it would mean giving up their early dismissal.

“They valued senior dismissal more than being successful,” Aroian said. “That was a problem.”

Oshana made a similar point. “I don’t think it makes sense to be walking out as a senior failing classes,” he said, “or, quite frankly, to be walking out at any grade while failing classes.”

Empty Classrooms, Defunct Courses

The committee’s data also showed a problem most students never see. Because so many seniors asked to leave after third block, the school stopped offering many courses during the fourth block.

An example given at the BOE presentation was that of a single teacher who taught English IV during second block. That class had 25 students in it, while the same course during fourth block had only 10.

Math was similar. In fact, no senior math classes were run during fourth block this pas school year.

Other courses like Computer Science Principles and Intro to Teaching, which send students interested in becoming teachers to an elementary school, have not run in two years because they can only run during fourth block.

With most teachers assigned to teach during the first three blocks, there was limited coverage for duties and a shortage of classroom space, which created an imbalance in daily operations. Students were sent to the library during the second and third blocks due to coverage issues and the Math Lab closed during those blocks for the same reason.

 

Block Scheduling a Contributing Factor

A recent switch from period- to block scheduling didn’t help the issue. SHS moved from an eight-period day to a four-block day a few years ago. Aroian said the change did not cause the problem by itself, but did play a part. The longer schedule allows the school to add an extra credit each year, so most students now earn seven credits annually and reach 21 credits by the start of senior year.

“Block scheduling allows the possibility of up to 32 credits,” Aroian said.

This left many seniors little reason to fill their final year, and led them to favor senior dismissal on both A and B days during the fall and spring instead of taking courses.

Robert Brown is a long-standing BOE member who taught at SHS for most of his 41-year teaching career. He sat on a committee that studied block scheduling more than a decade ago, examining the pros and cons of switching to it. That led to a faculty vote on whether the school staff would be in favor of block scheduling – and the faculty voted no.

Brown cited two reasons that they voted no: the perception that teachers would lose their jobs, as well as a concern that the change could be cost students who leave early their education.

Under the old eight-period day, a student who left early missed about 45 minutes. Under block scheduling, students now miss roughly 90 minutes every day.

“It’s not just the top students going,” Brown said. “It’s over half the class.” He mentioned that students who leave end up with about three-quarters of an education in one of the most important years of high school.

Oshana agreed that the schedule was not the only cause. “I think the problem existed before block scheduling,” he said. “Block scheduling may have made it a little bit more visible, but I don’t think it was the cause of the problem.

A First-Person Observation

One thing I wish to be upfront about is that I graduated from SHS last year. I had senior dismissal on both A and B days. I did not use that time on a job, an internship or anything productive. I would go home and do nothing, mostly playing video games and watching TV.

I am mentioning this because of the Journalism course I chose to take in my senior year, which is a major reason why I can write this story now. It started my career as a writer in college, and it is the exact opportunity the administration says students miss when they leave.

A New Policy

Under the old system, a student simply filled out a form, and counselors approved dismissal at their own discretion, with no guidelines.

“I had to put some guardrails on this,” Aroian said. “We had to establish some structure to it because the numbers were growing.”

Beginning with the class of 2027, a senior can make use of early dismissal only by earning a GPA of 3.65 or higher and completing junior year with at least 20 credits. Students who fall short can still leave through an approved internship or mentorship program, or by making their case to a panel of teachers through a new appeal process.

The new appeal process will send students, whose schedules leave them with an open fourth block, to a panel of teachers, which Aroian said will not include himself. There, students can explain why leaving would help them.

The new policy also means juniors can no longer leave early.

Based on data shown in the presentation, 171 rising seniors, or about 36% of the class of 2027, will be able to earn senior dismissal under the new policy.

Budget Complications

The new policy will be complicated by a thin Southington budget. The BOE asked for about $130.3 million for 2026-27, an $8.4 million increase of 6.89% that Oshana defended as covering rising salaries, benefits and special education costs rather than new programs. The Board of Finance recommended cutting that request by $1.6 million, a reduction that could eliminate about 22 positions.

Staffing is the area where the budget and the new senior dismissal policy collide. Aroian said the cuts left him with a potential staff shortfall. Fewer teachers make it harder to staff a balanced fourth block, which is what the new policy depends on. Furthermore, he does not expect to know the full schedule, including how many students end up in study halls or miss the course they requested, until the middle or end of summer.

Brown raised similar concerns. He said a stricter dismissal policy could drive the district to hire more teachers to cover fourth-block courses, even as the town looks to cut staff. He pushed back on the idea of issuing layoff notices only to rehire weeks later, calling it bad for morale.

Concerns About New Policy

Not everyone is sold on the new approach. Some parents have told the BOE that the policy swings too far in the other direction, turning senior dismissal into a privilege many students cannot achieve.

Brown wondered whether a policy based on GPA could shortchange students with learning disabilities whose grades fall below the cutoff. He said he would rather tie senior dismissal to doing something of value, such as a job, work-study program, community service or an internship, rather than to a single number.

Brown also mentioned a concern about a local youth survey he helps review. The survey flagged rising loneliness among teenagers and he wondered whether sending students home early makes it worse. “At least in the building, students are around other people,” Brown said.

What Brown, Oshana and Aroian kept returning to was the same weak spot: communication. The school lists 11 career pathways and a long catalog of electives, yet students do not always hear about them.

Oshana said the district is responsible for fixing that. “It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that happens,” he said.

Aroian put it at the center of his job going forward. “I want students in the building with a purpose,” he said.

New offerings like an EMT class that lets 20 students earn certification by the end of the year, which Aroian mentions can only run during fourth block.

Learning and Adjusting

The class of 2027 will be the first to experience the new rules. Aroian said his first task over the summer is to learn how many seniors get the courses they wanted and how many landed in study hall, then regularly meet to adjust the senior dismissal policy based on what’s working and what’s not.

Oshana called it a practice rather than a policy and said the BOE expects to change parts of it as results come in.

The real test arrives in the fall, when the building of 2,500 students finds out whether seniors are receptive towards the possibility of putting their futures first instead of going home early.