Back in the spring of the 2022-2023 school year, students began to hear about a committee of faculty members touring different schools to observe their schedules and see if we would/could make changes to our own. You heard about this from my fellow Rhinebeck Reality writer Zsuzsanna Moore back in May, but some news has come out since. From cancellations to early Zoom meetings, this committee went through a lot. But what did this all add up to?
In an email shared by Mr. Davenport, our school principal, on July 13th, 2023, we got an idea of what this schedule might look like. Aspects of the schedule included increased opportunities for students to get early-dismissal/late arrival privileges, a Community Lunch, and more spread out homework due dates and tests.
Though all of this seems pretty positive, what else will this mean?
The proposed schedule will consist of five 54-minute classes and a 53-minute Community Lunch rotating on an 8-day schedule (as pictured below). Students will continue to have the opportunity to take up to 8 classes per year, but with this schedule daily classes (like Math, Science, History, and English) will meet 6 times out of the 8-day rotation. On the other hand, classes that typically meet every other letter-day (such as Band, Chorus, and Gym), will meet only 3 days out of the 8 day cycle.
“Longer class periods allow teachers to do more projects and inquiry-based lessons. I think rotating the schedule benefits students so students won’t, for example, have the same class first period.” Davenport shared.
He detailed that, as previously mentioned, this new schedule will allow all 11th and 12th graders the opportunity for periodic early dismissal or late arrival (since the period rotation will allow study halls to become first or last period), and the morning and afternoon blocks will accommodate CTI (BOCES) students.
He thinks that the Community Lunch will allow everyone to sit with their friends and reduce distractions in the morning and afternoon.
In his opinion, the class rotation will help students manage their homework/test-studying. Davenport also believes that the longer classes are good preparation for some college courses.
There’s a lot of moving parts surrounding this topic, and students’ reactions have been varied. Stay tuned for more coverage regarding the schedule from Rhinebeck Reality.
