In our previous article on school schedules in the Cape Ann League, we talked to 10 personnel from 5 different schools in order to investigate our belief that Triton’s schedule could be better.
The idea of a “good” day of school seems far-fetched for most students but we think this new schedule could change someone’s outlook on their academic week.
With the idea of a good night’s sleep being a priority for most and more time to “kinda vibe,” in the words of Assistant Principal Elizabeth Pacheco, these small tweaks could provide a better experience for students here at Triton.
In a Google form, we asked our student body about potential schedule changes. A total of 30.5 percent of feedback came from freshmen, 22 percent from sophomores, 28.8 percent from juniors and 18.6 percent from seniors. Here are the results.
Do You Like Your Daily Schedule?
Students replied, 49.2 percent neutral, 39 percent yes and 11.9% no. This was interesting because the majority of students said that they did like their current schedule, but other data stated there were a few minor changes to be made.
Do You Like Our Waterfall Schedule?
Students replied, 10.2 percent neutral, 84.7 percent yes and only 5.1 percent no. Although this was expected, we were still shocked about just how many people loved the dropping 1 period per day idea, so we kept this in mind when creating our schedule.
If you could swap schedules with any other schools in the Cape Ann League which school would it be?
Students replied, (anonymously), “None,” “Newburyport High School,” “Newburyport,” “Newbury,” and “Pentucket.” We are not surprised that our rival took the cake in this friendly competition.
If you could change our school’s schedule what changes would you make?
Students replied, (anonymously), “None”, “Everyday there should be a study period”, “Lunch Longer”, “[First] class starts at 8”, and “Start later.”
(Junior & Seniors) Do you prefer our current ‘Viking Block’ or would you rather swap back to one 90 minute class each day?
Students Replied, 7.9 percent “I don’t like either,” 2.6 percent would like to return to a 90 Minute class, and a whopping 89.5 percent said they liked Viking Block. This was also a wild ratio!
| Edited Triton High School Schedule (Richard Photo) |
Our schedule reflects the student body’s ideas and requests to create a smooth school day. The first thing we did was add time onto classes and passing periods to make for a predictable flow. We added a “Viking Block” replacing our old 30 minute extension into a rotation consisting of a Gym or Study followed by a lunch. And lastly, the most anticipated is the start and end times switching from 7:42-2:13 to 8:15-2:30.
In order to hear from a professional, we asked Triton High School Principal Patrick Kelley what he thought about our new schedule idea, “It’s going to have to change in some form or fashion,” he said about Triton’s schedule for next year,“we have to be able to share staff.” His thoughts of shared staffing between the high school & middle school seemed to be the top priority in the change.
About dropping classes he explained that, “it’s good to have a break and sometimes it’s good for a teacher to have a break from you.” We also explained that the majority of the kids preferred dropping a class each day rather than a tight schedule as well.
Although it will be a while before we know what our new schedule will look like, we are sure to use student and staff feedback to draft a schedule that could be considered by administration.
