Students react to returning to eight-period schedule
April 21, 2021
On Monday April 12, students and staff returned to the eight-period schedule going from 7:40 a.m. to 3:06 p.m. Before going back to a full-day schedule, students attended class in a block schedule where the school day ended at 12:55 p.m. After a week of the regular schedule, students reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of attending for the full day.
“I think it’s good that I’m able to see more people and have a more interactive school day,” senior Thomas Kunst said. “It’s been a little tough to get used to our normal schedule again in such a short amount of time.”
Remote students are also adjusting to the full-day schedule over virtual Zoom meetings, leaving teachers to manage teaching between online and in-person groups. Some students feel that teachers are striking the balance between Zoom and in-person teaching efficiently.
“It’s been pretty similar to the start of the school year,” junior Jericho Calago said. “I feel like teachers have [done] a good job of balancing teaching between a larger number of in-person kids while still giving remote kids the same amount of attention.”
With the implementation of the full-day schedule, students experienced changes in their time management regarding school work and extracurricular activities.
“It has been helpful to go to all of my classes every single day, but going the full day has not been all easy,” sophomore Paige Greve said. “It has definitely been an adjustment especially with after-school activities. I used to be able to go home and do homework before rehearsals would start but now they are right after school.”
The changes brought with the return to a full-day schedule introduced new challenges for lunch periods, especially for underclassmen without off-campus privileges.
“The whole lunch situation was honestly just horrible,” freshman Kathryn Castanoli said. “I think the whole idea of keeping people separate [isn’t smart]. No matter what, people are going to turn to each other and talk to them, there’s not much you can do with that. And then you’re going to send them outside, and they’re obviously just going to just group up together which, you know, COVID-19 is going to spread that way, so that’s not really going to do that much.”
Still, the overall response to the full-day schedule is positive. As many students and teachers meet face to face for the first time in over a year, students remain hopeful that these changes will be here to stay.
“There are a ton of benefits of doing in person for the full eight periods,” Greve said. “I really like having all of my classes every single day and getting to go to afterschool activities. Although there are some possible negative outcomes, such as a [possible COVID-19] outbreak, with all of the safety precautions in place I hope that we are able to stay fully in person for the rest of the year.”