This year there is yet again a new advisory schedule. Instead of being on Wednesday every week, advisory alternates between Tuesdays and Thursdays with a longer lunch on advisory days. In addition to the new bell schedule, there are also significant curriculum changes in advisory. Advisory is meant to provide a window of time to teach state-mandated content and to do district required surveys, but not every advisory is already planned by the district or state. Last year, C-days had shorter classes that were meant to be for students to catch up on work and get help from their teachers, but some teachers were covering new content during the 30-minute periods. This year, advisory days have only slightly shorter classes, and for the advisories with no state- or district-mandated content to teach, new types of lessons have been implemented.

One goal South administration has this year is to include student voices in advisory lessons. For example, in November, the Native American Student Union did an advisory presentation for Native American Heritage month. Another goal administration has is to give students time to get help in their classes during school hours. This is the reason for  “flex time,” also known as teacher resource time. Flex time has been implemented so that students still get that time to talk with teachers and get the help they need in the absence of C-days. On flex scheduling days, teachers can request to see certain students and students can request to see certain teachers. If students have not requested or been requested by any teachers, they go to a study hall with their grade-level classmates. 

Flex time has been working well for students and teachers so far. Abby Ketchum, a junior at South and a reporter for The Axe, enjoys flex time and thinks it’s more useful than advisory.

“I don’t think advisory is a good use for student or teacher time because most of the time we just sit there,” Ketchum said. “I think [flex time is] better than advisory because you’re spending time getting help that you need. [Since] advisory is pretty long, it’s good that you can have that option. But we only do [flex time] sometimes and we should do it more.” 

South social studies and science teacher Zach Lazar thinks flex time is a good idea, but has noticed students don’t always take it seriously.

“I enjoy [flex time], now that I understand how to request students [if] they have to do a specific missing quiz or assignment,” Lazar said. “But typically the students that I need to come see me don’t show up, so it’s not as effective in practice as it is in principle.” 

Despite the challenges of flex time, it seems to be working better for both students and teachers than just having advisory every week. 

“Flex time is a good switch from having advisory every day,” South junior Mira Walker said. “I can get work done or just read a book or something.” When asked whether the new advisory schedule is better than it was last year, Walker said it definitely is.

“[The schedule] is definitely better than last year, even though I have trouble remembering when I’m supposed to be heading to advisory,” Walker said. 

There has been some confusion regarding the alternating Tuesday/Thursday schedule. For Lazar, it can be hard to remember when there’s advisory, which means he is often faced with an unexpected period that requires extra teaching and prep time.

“The rotating advisory schedule is difficult because I often forget when it’s a Tuesday advisory until Tuesday morning, even though I’ve been given notification,” Lazar remarked. “It’s difficult because [advisory] is every week so I have to do another prep to just get ready for advisory, whereas in the past it was maybe once a month. So it’s a little bit more work on my end as a teacher.” 

There are new, added advantages to changes in the A/B schedule. Students have wanted a longer lunch for a long time, as it’s been cut shorter and shorter in past years. Lunch being 10 minutes longer on advisory days is very much appreciated by the students.

“I like the long lunch because it gives [me the] opportunity to spend more time with my friends and spend more time eating and I can go places without being late for class,” Ketchum said. 

The changes in advisory this year, considered as improvements by many, have kept advisory on the path to becoming more productive and enjoyable while still teaching the state and district required content.

Article by Maya Robershaw