Students and teachers have different opinions regarding the new desks that have been added to the campus.  The new desks, called “Nodes”, are very mobile, which is the root of a lot of the criticism that the desks have been receiving amongst others.

Oshini Cooray, a junior at Quartz Hill High School, felt the desks did not, “benefit the classroom environment” because they are, “uncomfortable, too small, always moving around, and just overall distracting.”  Cooray feels that the desks are not helping the classroom, but disrupting it instead. Julia Ban, also a junior at Quartz Hill High School, added, “I feel that the negatives outweigh the positives. One of the positives being easy movement into groups.”

Furthermore, Mrs. Sayles, one of the first teachers to receive the new desks, reflected upon the pros and cons of the desks: “I want to be able to get in and out of groups very easily.  These desks allow me to do that and much more.”

As for the negatives, Mrs. Sayles added, “One of the cons would be that some kids think that the desks are bumper cars.  Also, the desks are often crooked at the end of class; however, they are very easy to move and fix.” This game of bumper cars, though, is indeed a huge disturbance in a classroom environment.

Principal Matt Anderson oversaw the process of receiving the desks and stated, “We wanted to start with around fifteen classrooms having the desks since [the desks] are very expensive and we do not want them to just go to waste.”  The desks cost around $300 each, and the total price of all the desks added up to about $150,000 total. Mr. Anderson explained, “Each desk is very expensive, however, we were able to get the desks by putting in a grant with the district. We did not spend any of the site’s money.”  The district was able to give a grant to fund for the shipment of new desks.

Mr. Anderson feels that “Only time will tell if the desks will pay themselves off.  One of the main reasons that we wanted to implement these desks was to make sure teachers are utilizing the mobility of the desks to check for understanding with the students since this is very crucial for the students to learn their material.  In order to determine if the desks were worth the amount of money spent, time must be spent with the desks to see if the desired result is being produced.”

Although each desk is very expensive, it is yet to be determined if the desks were worth the money.  With the desks offering high mobility, teachers are able to move desks from groups of four back to rows faster than with traditional desks.  However, at this point, some students still do not feel that the desks are benefitting the classroom, but rather disturbing it.