Recently, at Convent and Stuart Hall, there has been a rumor of a new schedule for next year that sees drastic changes to what students currently have. Although nothing is confirmed now, there have been some proposals and drafts by faculty and staff to present a schedule that fully optimizes our educational time for the coming year. Some of the proposed, but not confirmed, changes have rattled students and made them worried that it would subdue the strong community values.
The rumored changes include splitting the upper and lower classmen, eliminating the walks between campuses, and having three of each class per week. The changes that students were most appalled by were eliminating the walks between campuses and splitting the upper and lower classmen. Students, for the most part, disliked these changes because the walks and 20-minute passing period allow time to decompress after class, and sharing spaces with lower classmen cultivates community bonding and fosters a sense of companionship.

To address these rumors, Ms. Simpson held a meeting for rising seniors who are part of a focus group on Wednesday, May 14th, during the flex period. Ms. Simpson will be allowing students from different age groups to see the proposed idea, as well as hosting focus groups for different students of every grade. She showed students two different variations of what the potential schedule could look like, with priority on the one with a longer lunch period. The main schedule seen had five one-hour classes a day with an hour lunch period from 12:00 to 1:00. Additionally, passing periods were reduced and getting shorter as the day went on. Starting at 20 minutes for the first passing period and then decreasing to 10 minutes, and eventually five minutes. Students vehemently disliked the idea of a reduced passing period as it gives students less time between classes and would mean less switching of campus which, for the most part, is viewed favorably by the students. The faculty’s point of view is that 20 minutes is too much time in between classes and allows students to fall out of an academic state of mind. This shortened passing period would also mean that walks would have to be eliminated for the sake of timeliness. This walk is a great opportunity for students to decompress from over an hour of learning and allows some exercise during the school day. Additionally, a big worry for Ms. Simpson was that classes being well over an hour long meant that they wouldn’t be ultra productive, and the class would not be a continuous learning experience for the time. This also implies that hour-long classes wouldn’t need a break and that classes would have less time, but the time would be more productive.

When talking to Mr. Farrell during lunch he mentioned that this year’s schedule was a one-year new model and that each year the schedule is scrutinized to make sure that it utilizes class time to the fullest extent while also allotting time for chapel and community time. Additionally, he pointed out the success of this year’s resource period and that the faculty is aiming for something to satisfy all these conditions.

Junior Benny Moosbrugger said, “I like the current schedule and don’t know why it needs to be changed. I don’t like that they want to get rid of passing periods”.  This shows some of the areas of the proposed new schedule that students are critical of and lose its popularity. However, the idea of a new schedule yields different reactions as seen when Junior Luke Spalding said “I think that the twenty-minute passing periods and being able to cross campuses are beneficial for students, but I also believe the schedule needs to be changed so that class periods are shorter.” This shows that students as well would like to shorten classes which would increase learning density.

All in all, as the school year comes to an end students and faculty are getting ready to see what next year’s schedule might look like. So far the proposed schedule has seen students be critical towards some aspects, however, it’s very important to remember that the faculty has students’ best interest in mind and wouldn’t do anything to undermine the strong intellectual and communal values of Convent and Stuart Hall. Additionally, by hosting focus groups Ms. Simpson allows for students to give their input. While it’s a hard task to make a new schedule the faculty are diligently working to make a schedule that suits the students, teachers, and school in general.