New Schedule, New Perspectives

District 4J’s new schedule, implemented at the start of this school year in high schools across the district, promised to advance Special Education learning, affinity group meetings, teacher collaboration time, and the general interests of students and teachers in the schools. However, the question of how effective the new schedule has been in achieving its stated purposes still remains unproven. The Axe turned to South students and staff to find their perspectives on the dramatic change.

Composed of two semesters, the new schedule consists of an alternating A/B day arrangement and a Wednesday C day schedule, giving students the option to take up to eight classes per semester. For more than a decade, South has operated on a trimester schedule that allowed students to take up to five classes in a normal term. Therefore, a full schedule on trimesters would allow students to take up to 15 classes over the course of a year, whereas the new schedule allows students to take 16 – one of the benefits stated by the district. 

Another broadcasted benefit of the schedule for some students was the 90 -minute class periods, which increase time per period by 20 minutes, as compared to the 70-minute class periods students had last year. Longer free periods and more time in hands-on classes have been a highlight for many. 

“I’ve found that free periods are a lot more enjoyable, because they go for longer,” South junior Samuel Claassen expressed. 

Gregory Dunkin, the culinary arts teacher at South, agreed. 

“Ninety minutes is nice in a cooking class. But sometimes it can be too long as well,” he said. “But 90 minutes doesn’t hurt us. I like the 90 minutes.”

There are, however, obvious downsides to the new schedule. The introduction of that 16th class, as well as the addition of a weekly advisory period, has reduced total time in each class over the course of the year. And students and teachers have been feeling pressure as final grades and standardized tests loom ahead.

“I have less time to teach with this schedule because Wednesdays are a bust,” South social studies teacher Zach Lazar noted. “We were originally advised not to teach any new material, but then [the administration] said that we can if we want to, and I chose not to. I’m teaching the same classes that I taught in the past, and it is really hard to get through all of the content I used to do on a five-day, 70-minute schedule.”

Rory Young, a junior at South, agreed. 

“There are 53 fewer hours of school time,” she said, “so especially for AP classes, we have to do more work.”

Many students have also had difficulties staying engaged throughout 90-minute classes. 

“Sitting in the same spot for an extended period of time is tiring,” South sophomore Ivy Daywitt explained. 

Claassen agreed. 

“Ninety minutes is way too long, and I start really feeling like I need to leave class,” he admitted. 

It may become necessary for the administration to look at attendance rates from this year compared to last year if feeling the need to leave class is a common sentiment among students as a result of the new schedule.

Students aren’t the only ones at South who have noticed lower engagement with the new schedule.  Several teachers have also found it challenging.

 “I’ve had a hard time learning students’ names,” Lazar explained. “It’s week 16, and I know most of the students’ names. But I don’t see them every day, and that’s been really hard for me. I’m sure it’s been really hard for students too,”

Dunkin agreed. 

“I think it fuels disengagement from school,” he concluded.

Due to the larger class load, and thus larger numbers of students, teachers are having difficulties connecting one-on-one with their students and establishing genuine connections.

While some have noted difficulties in connecting with their students, others have been noticing better connections with their peers.

“I think that because we spend more time in the classes we have more time to interact with our peers,” Daywitt said. “It’s easier to build a relationship with those around you.”

Maybe this new schedule does engage students with each other more. Maybe it fuels disengagement. Maybe it depends on the individual, or maybe it depends on the class. It’s hard to say right now, but those uncertainties might become more defined with the release of the end of semester grades. 

A number of students have also noted an increase in mental health problems developing with the new workload and higher amount of classes.

“I’m a senior so for me classes feel pretty light,” South senior Gavin Le Duc stated, “but for a lot of my friends with full schedules, classes have been really hard on them, and I’ve seen some mental health problems because of the increased class load.”

Teachers have also expressed concerns over the increased grading period – 18 weeks as opposed to 12 last year – and the effects that will have on their students’ mental health and grades. 

“I think the biggest disadvantage to the schedule is 18 week-long grading periods,” Dunkin noted. “I’ve heard stories of students being told at week nine that they don’t have chances to pass certain classes, and then they just have to sit in there for another nine weeks. The thing, I think, that is going to hurt students the most is that. I think 18 week grading periods could harmful to students.”

Dunkin also commented on the reason that schools switched to a trimester system in the first place. 

“[The A-B schedule] requires a certain level of organization and self discipline that our top 20% of learners at South have in spades, but our bottom 20% of learners might not have,” he remarked. “The whole reason we went to a common schedule… was to get schools off the A-B schedule because it hurts our bottom 20% of learners badly, and we’re seeing that now on this current schedule.” 

It’s become apparent that making a schedule that caters to everyone is impossible. Finding a perfect balance between all groups does not happen without someone’s interests pushed down or ignored. Dunkin thinks that the district’s decision has hurt the bottom 20% of learners, a hypothesis that might be more clearly defined after this semester’s grades are released. Only time will tell. 

When asked about who the district should listen to when creating a new district-wide schedule, students and teachers had varying answers. 

Logan Simmons, a junior in International High School (IHS) at South, felt that taking teachers’ opinions into account was the most important step in making a decision about a schedule. He mentioned that because teachers are actually in the classroom, and because district administrators are not, teachers should be the ones to see their input realized.

Young agreed. “They should talk to teachers,” she remarked. 

Le Duc felt that they should listen to both student and teacher interests. 

“I wish they would take more into account student and staff opinion in their decisions,” he said. He remarked that he held that opinion because members of the school board do not teach classes, nor do they learn material from classes, and are thus not directly affected by their decisions. 

Lazar agreed that student and teacher opinions should be the most important factor in determining a new schedule. 

“I think it should have the students needs first, teachers need second,” he said. “[The new schedule] is not doing either of those.”

When asked about what improvements they would make to the schedule, students and teachers almost all agreed: Wednesdays are a waste of time, and they need to be changed. Some offered broad suggestions that would completely change the way that Wednesdays are structured, while others just mentioned small changes, such as taking advisory out of the weekly schedule.

“I think that Wednesdays are kind of pointless,” Simmons commented, “so switching out Wednesdays or doing something different would help.”

“Get rid of advisory,” Claassen suggested. “It makes Wednesdays unmanageable.” 

Young agreed with Simmons. 

“They are useless,” she remarked.

Lazar felt that a broader change of the Wednesday schedule is needed. 

“My solution would be to get rid of Wednesdays, maybe have them once a month if necessary, like an assembly day,” he said. “And just do A day/B day alternating – some weeks would be three A days and two B days, and the next week would have two A days and three B days.”

The many disadvantages of the schedule may seem obvious now, but perhaps things will change. Maybe there are currently unknown benefits to the schedule, or maybe teachers and students will be able to figure out a coursework load that works. Whatever the case may be, the South student body is capable of finding the positives while working through the negatives.

By Basil Dracobly and Kade Young

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