The Irvington school district has been contemplating instituting a new schedule of classes for the 2018-19 school year since last year. Students are still anxious to learn what the new schedule will be and how this new schedule will improve their high school experience.
Last year, the scheduling committee selected student representatives to hear their ideas and perspectives. Since then, the committee has been able to narrow their options down to just two possibilities for the new schedule.
Both options are based on the idea that the full school will share the same period for lunch. This raises concerns for some but after careful consideration the committee feels this is a must for the new schedule.
The goal of this shared lunch period is to provide everyone with a traditional lunch time compared to the past when some students were forced to eat lunch at times as early as 9:20 or as late as 1:50.
This shared lunch will also provide teachers and students a common time for extra help, group projects, or conversations about class work.
Sophomore Johnathan Mosberg predicts that “the lines [in the cafeteria] will be insane trying to buy and pick up food.”
In addition to the shared lunch, the two proposed options for the new schedules involve increased class time in either a “drop” schedule or a “block” schedule.
In the drop schedule there are four different days which rotate so all classes will be slightly longer but you won’t have every class every day. In the block schedule students have half their amount of classes from the two-day rotation, but the class periods are about 80 minutes long.
Ethan Cott, a sophomore, involved in representing student ideas says, “From the schedules I saw, none of them seemed that much better than the current one.”
Implementing a new schedule just as students begin to feel comfortable in their high school career causes many students to worry it will cause their grades and overall experience of high school to decline.
Isabelle Krieg, a sophomore, is worried that this new schedule may “mess up her junior year.” Krieg, like many students, is nervous that they won’t be able to take their desired classes, and the teachers will have difficulty adjusting their teaching skills in this new schedule.
This is just one of the many aspects that make this decision so complicated and important.
In order to make sure this process is successful and runs smoothly, a scheduling committee that consists of teachers and administration has been meeting since last year.
James Groven, a high school teacher who is part of the scheduling committee says the process requires a lot of work because “the school is being thoughtful and doesn’t want to mess up.”
The scheduling committee is expected to make a decision soon for the schedule of the upcoming school year.
