Out With The Old, In With The New

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Free image/jpeg, Resolution: 716×739, File size: 45Kb, Frustrated Student Cartoon

Evan Jones, Staff Writer

This semester, the district decided to alter the schedules for online and hybrid learning. Prior to this new change, many agreed that the previous district wide schedule was confusing and overall hard to manage. 

The previous schedule consisted of cohort days for both a blue and gold group along with 2-4-6 classes and 1-3-5 classes being on consecutive days. The second semester  however, reverted back to the old schedule before quarantine. 

The schedule is now back to 2-4-6 classes on Tuesday and Thursday and 1-3-5 classes on Wednesday and Friday. In addition, there are no more asynchronous days as the teachers are now having students be engaged for every class day. 

The schedule wasn’t just changed because it was simpler to go back to the old schedule, however. Many factors went into the district’s decision to change the schedule. 

One of the main factors was that the schedule caused a lot of confusion amongst the students and teachers too. Most students were just not used to attending the same classes on back to back block days. In fact, multiple students that I know ended up going to the wrong class multiple times early in the morning. 

“On multiple days in one week I showed up to the wrong class early in the morning. I kept going to 1st period as my 1st class on Wednesdays instead of 2nd period and then went to 2nd period as my first class on Thursdays instead of 1st period. It was just really confusing after being used to the old schedule for so long,” said junior, Marcus Sivagiroyna.  

The new schedule already feels so much less confusing and just so much more conducive to academic success for students

— Colton Kaneria (junior)

All of the schedule confusion on top of a tedious and monotonous school day consisting of hours of staring at a computer screen, made the school day frustrating for a majority of the students. 

For teachers, the first semester online school schedule made it difficult for them to stick to their usual lesson plans for each class day. 

APUSH teacher Joe Snedeker normally does assessments on Mondays, content on Wednesdays, and writing on Fridays. However, this year, he had to alter that traditional plan.

Instead of the traditional schedule, students had to take assessments on Mondays and then do both content and writing on Thursdays and Fridays. The first semester schedule practically disrupted the pace of the entire class. 

“The new schedule already feels so much less confusing and just so much more conducive to academic success for students,” said junior, Colton Kaneria. 

The new and traditional schedule will likely help a lot to get classes back on pace and to lower the amount of confusion for both teachers and students.