With the advent of a new school year, the academic office has unveiled a new daily schedule. Julia Maurer '90, Associate Head of School, spoke on the ongoing process of schedule changes, “So, we said years ago that we were going to do a schedule redesign, we had a schedule that had six classes, and the day felt too hectic, so we wanted to reduce the load on students and teachers. But we wound up having three classes one week, two the other week, and so teachers were not able to cover enough of their content.”
In designing the new schedule, Maurer talked about what the school’s limits were, “So what we did with this new schedule is try to keep what we liked about the old one but increase class time, things like help, Friday school meetings, sit-down meal lengths, that was the goal.”
Academic Dean Jennifer Smith, who was a member of the committee that worked on creating the new schedule, explains, “From when I started working on it, there were two specific goals for the schedule change: one was to increase class time to get closer to our peer schools because we’re way behind, and to increase class meetings to three times a week so that students won’t have to review as much.”
Besides the addition of class meetings and class time, Smith explained the new, non-alphabetical order: “We voted on that, and it was very close, almost split. But if you go in alphabetical order, some of the rotations end up meeting in the morning all the time… and it would have been impossible for everyone to have a sleep-in.”
Reactions to the new schedule have been mixed, with both teachers and students expressing positive and negative feelings about it. Heather Prescott remarks, “There is more class time than there has been in the past two years. This was something I was hoping would change, and I am very pleased that it has.”
Class time increase has also been seen as positive by some students. Max Friedman ‘25 shares, “I like that the schedule provides more class time overall, and I’m actually a big fan of the hour-long classes.”
Michele Poacelli commented, “The schedule to me feels like scaffolding; it’s what you hang the important stuff on, and so more scaffolding equals more of an opportunity to hang the important things on.”
Unfortunately, more class time has also led to students feeling more pressure. Madeline Chu ’27 elaborates, “I feel like I have the same amount of homework from each class as I did last year, except with half the time to complete it.” Friedman adds, “More classes mean more work, and as far as I’m aware, most classes haven’t reduced homework loads to account for the extra classes and meetings per week.”
Not all students find the new schedule daunting. Keagan Killinger ’28, a new student, shares, “I’m still getting used to it, as it’s a little inconsistent. The days are shorter than my old school days, and we start later, which is extremely nice. Overall, I enjoy the schedule.”
More frequent classes are not the only major change to the schedule. This year, classes no longer meet in alphabetical order. Prescott notes, “The fact that the schedule is not always sequential can be confusing. I need to look at the schedule several times a day. This is not problematic since I have several printed copies of it.” She adds, “I know why the shifts have been observed, and I am fine with the fact that the non-sequential nature of the weekdays allows for certain blocks to meet first thing in the morning and, at other times, in the afternoons.”
Poacelli agrees, adding, “It’s incredibly confusing, and it forces you to pay attention to Google Calendar. For me, it’s easy because I’m glued to my Google Calendar, but if you didn’t already have those habits, it would be difficult.”
Students have been less forgiving about the schedule’s confusing nature. Cole Piriano ’26 shares, “It has been challenging to memorize the schedule.” Caiden Bowers ’25, a new student, adds, “My old school followed a seven-block, four-class daily schedule that rolled alphabetically. So the schedule here is similar, but it has been difficult to memorize my class schedule because the classes do not flow strictly alphabetically.”
As a whole, the school community understands the importance of increased academic time, and the campus has received the changes moderately well, but issues persist. From teachers to students, some aspects are seen as needing change.
Prescott elaborated, “Some of the class periods are 60 minutes, and some are 75 minutes, so I am trying to do my best to offer the same content, skill-building opportunities, and learning experience to all of my students. This is a challenge. I would prefer that all class meetings be 65 minutes, all the time.”
Prescott’s statements are shared by many. Friedman bluntly adds, “Make every block 60 minutes. We need standardized class times.” Chu suggests, “I would bring back late starts on Wednesdays. It was just something to look forward to, especially since we’re all so overwhelmed by the middle of the week.”
While the new schedule provides much-needed increases in class time, along with increased variability of sleep-ins, it is certainly a mixed bag. Poacelli sums it up well: “I’ve lived, you know, a million different schedules… and you just adapt because we’re adaptable creatures, right?”