Student backlash regarding the schedule change for 2026-27 school year prompted Head of School Ronnie Codrington-Cazeau’s schoology post on Oct. 27. UPrep announced a shift to a new seven-period schedule next year in the All School Email on Sept. 18. Following the announcement, backlash ensued on Schoology with 14 separate posts and multiple comments from students about the adjustment.
On Sept. 22, Assistant Head of School for Academics Ed Billingslea addressed the Upper School in Founders Hall. Billingslea presented the schedule to the student body. He explained what changes were implemented and why they were made to provide clarity around the email. In addition, Billingslea answered questions from the student body, though the time constraints of Community Time meant that not every question could be fully addressed.
On Oct. 17, Codrington-Cazeau posted a message on Schoology about the schedule change.
“I want to acknowledge to you all that the rollout of the new schedule to students did not go exactly as we had planned,” Codrington-Cazeau said in the Schoology post. “School administration values student voice at UPrep, and many of you did not feel heard in this new schedule rollout. As your Head of School, I take personal responsibility for this.”
In addition, Codrington-Cazeau said that the Community Culture and Ethics Council (CECC) compiled a list of questions from the student body for her to answer. According to Codrington-Cazeau, this was meant to help ease concerns and answer questions from students that hadn’t been fully addressed by Billingslea a month prior.
On Oct. 27, Codrington Cazeau posted the answers to the questions on Schoology and thanked CECC for compiling the questions, which spanned a variety of topics: homework and workload, back-to-back classes, logistics, free periods, FLEX/Community Time, intensives, graduation requirements and assessment schedules.
One question adressed in the document was about conselours envolvment in the crafting fo the schedule.
“We have four mental health professionals employed by the school and they were all part of the
meetings where the schedule was discussed,” Codrington-Cazeau said. “We also work with Authentic Connections to survey our students’ mental health every year. Those results were considered in the creation of this schedule and will also be reviewed as we assess the schedule.”
In her post, Codrington-Cazeau emphasized that unknowns remain regarding the schedule change.
“There are still some details of the schedule we are continuing to refine, and as soon as I have more details, I will communicate with you again,” Codrington-Cazeau said. “Feel free to stop by my office for any clarification, and stay tuned for more info.”
