The New Schedule: When, What, and Why

By Amy Yang

There are a lot of rumors flying around about the new schedule coming in the next school year, but no one seems to know exactly what will happen. I talked to Dr. Lee last week to find out what’s going on.
 
What’s coming and why?
We’re not getting a new schedule because what we have isn’t working. Rather, the admin want to make improvements for our school to run more efficiently. Ever found special schedules annoying? Apparently, so do the admins. (The word that Dr. Lee used was “disruptive”). A new schedule can fit special periods for community time without disrupting our day.
 
The new schedule isn’t just for high schoolers; elementary and middle school will also get a similar schedule. This allows cross-divisional activities and collaboration to promote school unity. Furthermore, in some departments such as PE and performing arts, it could be more efficient for teachers to teach classes across divisions. This could only be possible if the three divisions run according to the same general schedule.
 
What exactly will the new schedule look like? No one knows yet. The faculty has looked at seven sample schedules, and the one we end up using might not look like either of them. Many students seem to assume that the schedule will have very short classes, but this is not for sure. We might have 75-minute classes. If we do get very short classes, our schedule might feature double blocks to accommodate for courses that need longer instruction times, such as PE.
 
When is this happening?
The new schedule will not be decided until January or February. There will be opportunity for high school students to give feedback before then, although the decision is ultimately made by the admin. Before a new schedule is officially adopted, the school will do a test-run, likely before the end of this school year.
 
Dr. Lee has been in three schools that have changed their schedules, and he assures me that it’s not as scary as it sounds: “Maybe we’ll walk around confused for around a week, but it will be okay.”
 
If you have any questions about the new schedule or any of the above information, you can ask us (or Dr. Lee directly).