Changing schedules in the pandemic have challenged students and staff as they try to adjust to each different “new normal.” 

“Last year… we had ten different schedules,” Susie Wu, Director of Middle School said. “This year, we’ve been lucky…we’ve only had three changes.” 

However, the changing schedules have unexpectedly provided something positive to school days.

“Recess has turned out to offer so many benefits for students that we’re actually considering keeping the double lunch, double recess through this year,” Wu said. “And potentially, some teachers are asking whether or not we might be able to keep [recess] permanently.”

In spite of this, some students have different opinions about this new development.

“There’s not really anything to do [during recess],” seventh grader Mac Chandler said. “[Without recess] we could have more time for community time.”

Recess, community time, and lunch times also correspond with the high school, adding an extra challenge to scheduling.

“Because we share the classrooms and we share teachers, we always have to build schedules in conjunction with the high school,” Wu said.

Eighth grader Samantha Berntsen thinks that students should have more input on overall scheduling changes.

“Teachers who are making schedules, they’re not experiencing them. I think that people who are actually going to be experiencing these schedules and using them should have an input in what they are,” Berntsen said.

Evidently, there won’t ever be a perfect schedule that fits everyone’s needs, but the schedule coordinator staff work hard to get as close as possible to the goal of a perfect schedule. 

“We are planning to continue our regular schedule [next year]. We will be evaluating teacher feedback throughout the rest of the year to see how things go and will decide during the summer,” Wu said.