How It Started: New Schedule Created, Students Believe it Causes Stress
A student’s planner
Photo Credit: Wylie, 11th grade
Many students don’t realize that a schedule change could be the main culprit behind their increased stress over the last few months.
The GCDS Upper School made significant changes to the academic schedule before the start of the year. Among them was the move to six periods a day instead of five. Mr. Columbo noted that a sixth additional period each day adds a significant amount of homework for students, and a group of GCDS faculty is currently working on adapting the schedule into something less stress-inducing but equally as productive. In the meantime, they are determining the best way to reduce the homework load for the rest of this year while preserving the benefits of the current schedule changes.
Ms. McDonald and Ms. Waller (pretending to) have a meeting about the new schedule.
Photo Credit: Kayla, 12th grade
Why the change? The reasoning has a lot to do with the ever-evolving nature of COVID-19 and the need for academic consistency.
In the first year of the high school’s opening, students expressed interest in taking more than one elective and having free periods. Mr. Columbo revealed that initially, the administration hoped that students would take these extra courses at 7:30 am or after school at 3:00 pm. However, it was clear early on that students found those times unappealing, so the administration opted for a schedule where each period met five out of eight days for its second year of opening. Still, teachers found that certain classes weren’t meeting enough throughout the course of the week. Classes like Math and Language require consistency and repetition, which some argued couldn’t be achieved if they only meet five out of eight days a week.
The administration is looking for feedback, so student-faculty communication will be an integral part of implementing changes. Just like any other initiative at GCDS, the faculty is “keenly invested in this partnership”. In fact, Dr. Ruoss is considering putting together a group of students to help make this feedback loop possible. The sixth-period addition was never implemented to increase the academic rigor of the high school or leave students feeling restricted with high levels of stress. It was added to give students a very different experience: the freedom to explore their disparate interests and benefit from teacher-student interactions.
As Dr. Ruoss stated, their goal is to be proactive when implementing the academic schedule, and also responsive – so, reach out to student government and faculty members if you have any suggestions or concerns.
