Following up on today’s print issue, senior John Reinstra has cancelled his petition to keep Knight School. Photo courtesy of Erik Wessler.

By Maudie Frye and Kaitlin Baldwin

Senior John Reinstra has cancelled his student petition to keep Knight School after a meeting with Upper School Director John Schafer. “With some modifications, I strongly believe that May term (M Term) can be everything that Knight School currently is and more,” Reinstra said in an email to students who signed his petition.

After the discussion, Reinstra realized that he thought M Term was a better version of Knight School. That being said, Reinstra still hopes that the administration continues to preserve the much-loved elements of Knight School. “I still think that the administration should make an effort to promote student-led courses,” Reinstra said. “There should be multiple sections of the most popular Knight School courses to allow students to take courses they actually care about,” he added.

M Term will last for three weeks, taking place towards the end of the school year. Additionally, it will allow underclassmen to take themed courses centered around community service or social justice, while upperclassmen will be able to choose among travel trips and existing popular Knight School courses. More traditional “classroom” M Term courses will be given letter grades that show up on students’ transcripts.

Reinstra brought his petition with 345 signatures to Upper School Schafer, intending to fight this change. After learning more about M Term from Schafer, Reinstra said he decided that the new program is an improved version of Knight School. “I think it is more productive to consider M Term as a modified form of Knight School rather than an entirely new and foreign program,” Reinstra stated.