It was announced at the beginning of the school year that the school’s weekly schedule would follow the order of A-B-C-B-C. However, what feels like every week students and staff are met with a new modified schedule — whether it’s to accommodate for a last-minute assembly, guest speaker or a grade-wide field trip. In fact, in the month of April alone, three out of the four weeks had an altered schedule. The schedule’s variability creates chaos and stress for students and teachers leaving many behind on essential assignments and activities.
“It’s confusing and I don’t really know what to expect for the next week, so it’s hard to know when my tests are on, when to study for assignments and do my homework,” sophomore Nathan Lu said.
When the order of classes changes each week, it becomes harder for students to plan their assignments. Consequently, students are often left to scramble to keep up with assignments and are unable to effectively prepare or plan ahead.
Because of the unpredictability of the school schedule, an uneven distribution of assessments are assigned to students which only exacerbates stress levels. A clear example of this occurred during the week following Headmaster’s Day. In order to accommodate for the day off, teachers had to move assignments around to the same week. While Headmaster’s Day provides great value through immense fun, this day is quickly offset by the stress of tests scheduled right after it. Finding a balance of school-sponsored events while minimizing schedule changes is crucial to the well-being of students. A four day week that starts with a C Day may result in a series of disruptions. While certain scheduling conflicts such as holidays are out of the school’s control, guest speakers and assemblies should be planned out more thoughtfully.
The inconsistent schedule also creates challenges for teacher planning, resulting in teachers spending less time planning the content of their lesson and more time making adjustments.
“It’s hard to create consistency, especially if I’m trying to do a lab that might be over the course of a few days that I need consecutive time to do and also sudden schedule changes create somewhat of a chaotic system for the kids or students,” science teacher Bryan Moretz said.
Furthermore, club leaders are not meeting as often as they would like because of conflicting school events and assemblies that are scheduled during what would otherwise be club time. Numerous clubs only have the chance to meet only once every month and a half — if not longer. Due to this problem, clubs are having to find time outside of club times to accommodate their meetings and activities, often leading to low rates of attendance due to other commitments.
“It’s very difficult because a lot of members don’t exactly know the schedule and when there is going to be club time during break and when there’s not going to be,” Latin Club President Jerry Chen said. “Overall the number of times they meet throughout the year has been cut down a lot from last year or previous years.”
As a result, Trinity does plan on revamping the weekly schedule to have three A days and just one pair of block days. According to Head of Upper School Tracy Bonday, this change is best for students, both for attention span during class and homework load throughout the week.
“There are a lot of studies that indicate that block scheduling is not necessarily ideal for purposes of how much content gets covered because the longevity of the block itself frequently can be problematic,” Bonday said.
With this new schedule, the addition of three A days should limit the perceived need for constant schedule changes because removing a single A day impacts all classes equally and doesn’t require the shuffling of other week days. School should be a chance of learning and growth, not a source of constant uncertainty where students are being forced to adjust.
Administration must develop a clearer plan moving forward on how to sort out the inconsistent schedule to encourage student and faculty well-being. In order to promote the best learning environment, administrators must develop a consistent schedule that streamlines future planning for both students and teachers. After all, students deserve more than an unplanned schedule that hinders their ability to learn but more of an environment that promotes excellency above all else.
The lead editorial expresses the opinion of the Trinity Voice editorial staff. Please send comments to [email protected].
