As the school year kicked off in September, so did a new bell schedule. Edison used to have three sessions for its students, with the earliest class starting at 7:10 A.M. and the latest class ending at 3:30. However this changed to two sessions with the earliest class starting at 7:10 (those attending college now) and the latest class ending at 3:00.
This new schedule allowed students to possibly start their day later and get out earlier. Also the periods have been reduced to 43 minutes. However, now students have only three minutes to get from class to class.
Even though many students may love spending less time in classes, sophomore Mariah Young isn’t too fond of the idea.
Mariah Young compares the bell schedule to her program.
Young said, “I don’t like that the new time schedule ends periods earlier. Yeah it’s kind of cool to have shorter periods but now teachers might teach students faster than they need to.”
Ms. Williams, Edison’s newest guidance counselor, finds the new schedule to be “kind of interesting.” However, she believes students should have four minutes of passing so there is “just enough time” to get to class.
This new schedule not only affects the students, but the teachers as well. Teachers are now required to stay afterschool, which is their designated time to contact parents about their child’s performance. On Mondays teachers are required to stay an extra hour for professional development, Tuesday and Wednesday they are required to stay for a half hour for parent outreach and Thursdays they have to stay back a half hour for teacher team meeting. On Fridays they do not have to stay back any extra time.
“I dislike that teachers have to have designated time to contact parents and stay later for meetings because it interferes with after school activities and club meetings that have to be supervised by a teacher,” senior Kayla Rampersaud said.
However Mr. McKenny likes the idea of a parent outreach, “It is not really that bad. I do think it is important. Because I like to be informed as a parent about my children so I think we should have an opportunity to do it.”
The new schedule overall has a greater impact on the teacher population rather than the students. With it just taking effect, we have to wait to see whether it will be effective or not.
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