Henry Schutt
Staff Writer
As the school nears the end of the first block schedule semester, it seems sufficiently long enough to accurately review how it’s been received by both the faculty and student body.
The school’s current schedule starts at 8:40 a.m. and comprises three periods a day with advisory in the middle and ends at 2:45 p.m.. This is quite different from the schedule the current seniors, juniors, and the majority of the staff remember from a few years ago where school started an hour earlier, there was every class everyday, and advisory only once a week.
“Teaching a CTE program like this takes a lot of time, especially when students are working on projects, and the block schedule has allowed my students to get stuff done,” digital media teacher Andrew Schaffer said. Not all teachers are as fortunate to benefit from the longer period schedule though.
“I feel like for my music classes the level of retention and progress over the weekend isn’t as good, because they’ve had three days off instead of two, so the first day of the week is a little rough,” band teacher Robert McGlothlin said. He further elaborated, “If someone misses on a Thursday, I see them Monday, and then the following Monday. That’s a week off of playing. To keep our skills we need to play every day.” While that isn’t the best for the budding music players, he admits, “The caveat is that I have been doing a lot more fundamentals work in my music classes that we just didn’t have time for before.” When it comes to students though, it seems the majority reception of the new schedule has been positive.
“I think it gives more of an opportunity to focus on assignments and projects in class,” senior Grace Bliesner said. Previously, many projects had to be split between multiple days and sometimes caused disorganization and confusion amongst students.
“I find the block schedule to be amazing,” junior Elikana Gaoteote said. “It has really helped me stay on top and organized with all my classes and relieve some of the stress if it were a regular schedule.” Many classes, especially the Career Technical Education classes, often benefit from the longer class periods.
“Mostly in CTE classes I have been able to spend more time on projects without interruption. I think, across the board, block schedule is better because it allows less distraction,” senior Zander Ortega said.
For classes that benefit from everyday teaching such as music or language, this schedule has hindered them somewhat. The everyday repetition that is required to reinforce the teachings for those topics is nonexistent. However, for science and CTE, this has given them more continuous time for their labs and projects. Overall, the majority of students seem to be enjoying the new schedule regardless of class choices.
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