Claire Kim

SCHEDULE SHIFT. The main change to the schedule is the switch between X-period and tutorial. “When we have crossover between middle and upper school teachers and middle and upper school students, [the new schedule] would work more fluidly,” Dean of Academics Tom Anderson said.

As the new school year starts, students and faculty not only have to get used to being back at school, but they also have to adjust to a brand-new schedule. Ten-minute breaks are now provided between classes for more passing time. X-period and tutorial have also swapped places in the schedule. Morning tutorials are replacing last year’s afternoon ones with the hopes that students will be able to get more work done rather than push through the post-lunch drowsiness. A later X-period also helps students relax and let off some steam outside.
Junior Julia Taylor likes having a later tutorial. “At the end of the day I don’t want to do homework, I just want to hang out,” Taylor said.

On the other hand, one of the main complaints with the schedule is the length of the lunch line, particularly with early lunch. During the ten-minute passing time right before early lunch, kitchen staff won’t serve food to prepare for the oncoming rush. Unfortunately, this leads to a long delay in getting food, sometimes cutting lunchtimes in half.

Sophomore Malcolm Adams expressed his distaste for this holdup. “I hate it because I usually like to get seconds […] I can’t do that anymore,” he said.

Adams wishes that students would be allowed to get lunch during the passing time break to ease up the traffic.”I don’t really need the passing time otherwise,” he said.

Last year, meetings were held with principals of both the middle and upper school along with Dean of Students Stacy Tepp and Dean of Academics Tom Anderson to discuss issues with the schedule. One of the main problems they wanted to tackle was lining up the upper school and middle school schedules. Anderson explained that with the new schedule, “When we have crossover between middle and upper school teachers and middle and upper school students, [the new schedule] would work more fluidly.”

Aside from meeting with the administration, SPA also asked for feedback from faculty about the schedule. Many common complaints arose, so various schedule prototypes with more noticeable changes were proposed but ultimately turned down. They addressed the concern that students didn’t use tutorial effectively at the end of the day. It was suggested that tutorial would be moved to the morning, and then students would have time to do homework due for any of the three classes later that day. “Kids having a guaranteed half hour in the morning that they could do work might actually alleviate some of the sleep problems kids have staying up late because they’re trying to get everything done and they don’t have any time at school to get anything done,” Anderson said.

Passing time was also addressed, eliminating the pressure teachers feel to end class early for students to get to their next class on time. These ten-minute breaks also allow students to take a breather between every 75-minute class. “There’s always something that breaks up the sitting and sitting in class,” Anderson said.