A New Schedule, Again?

As we continue into the school year, we have come to terms with “the new normal,” a phrase we are all tired of hearing. This school year has already looked a bit different as we began with a hybrid schedule. This entails actually going into school every other day, and on off days we either have work time or zoom calls. After talking to many students and teachers, most think that the hybrid schedule works, but it isn’t ideal. It is difficult for everyone, mostly the teachers, to keep track of all of the different groups at one time (in person, online, and all online students). Before the pandemic hit, there were plans for the schedule to permanently change to a block schedule for the 2020-2021 school year. However, with COVID-19, the block schedule was initially thrown out for a simpler hybrid schedule.

Now, a month into school, a new schedule has been introduced. This schedule is a combination of a hybrid and block schedule. There are purple and gold days; on purple days, there are classes 1, 3, 5, and 7, and on gold days, there are classes 2, 4, and 6. There will be two purple days in a row, the first A-L and the second M-Z. The next two days would be gold days, following the same hybrid pattern. Since there will be extra time on gold days, a “community time” has also been added. This time is apparently pretty flexible and can be used for large assemblies or more individual things, like asking teachers for help. Students will be able to leave school for the community time if we have nothing left to do. In addition to this community time, we will also have flex time each day of school. In combination with lunch, this time is seventy-five minutes and can also be used to ask teachers for help or just for students to work on homework. As for my own opinion, I like the fact that we have more time to do homework because we don’t have class every day. There are a few aspects that I don’t like, though, the first being that this schedule may be even more confusing. There are four different “types” of days we can have, which can be a lot to keep track of. Lastly, seventy-five minutes is a long time to either sit in a class or to sit on a zoom call. Although this new schedule might not be perfect, it is in our best interest to attempt to keep our spirits up.