by Kelley Coleman ’23
Beloved readers, the time has finally come: we know that you have been waiting with bated breath to hear the results of our most recent poll on the new schedule. Well, wait no longer, for we have come to bequeath the results unto thee.
The survey itself was simple: two optional questions (both multiple choice), and one free response section for students to share their thoughts. We received over forty anonymous responses in total and have found their words to contain much insight. Without further ado, here are the results.
Our survey was basic and is biased in that people who are unhappy with something are much more likely to respond to an optional survey about it then people who are more or less okay with it, but I believe that the results do reflect that the new schedule is generally unpopular with the student body. We have selected some of the most notable responses from our survey to be highlighted here.
The overwhelming majority of the free responses expressed discontent with the new schedule, specifically on the changes to the lunch period. As one student elegantly put it: “I HATE THE NEW BELL SCHEDULE … I DON’T SEE HALF OF MY FRIENDS LIKE I DID LAST YEAR.”
Aside from lunch, the subject that was brought up most frequently in the responses was the change to the activities period and advisory. One student stated:
“I feel that the problem with last year’s schedule was that advisory interfered with club times. That was the one fix I really felt was needed but this year that just made it worse, essentially locking Tuesday and Thursday formation periods from having any clubs at all.”
One student expressed his frustration with the new schedule from an extracurricular organizer’s perspective:
“It doesn’t solve the lunch problem that it was supposed to solve, it instead made it worse and the line is long throughout the entire period. I also don’t like how I can’t have lunch with my friends every day of the week. I run [a] club, and it’s hard to schedule a meeting that everyone can attend because of the advisory schedule and lunch being different for everyone.”
Most interestingly, we received a response from someone identifying themselves as from Campus Dining:
“I am on the Campus Dining staff and I like the change in the schedule this year. It allows time in between the two lunch periods to replenish with fresh food before the next group comes. Last year we had to cook all the food at 9:00 a.m. for the large group (which was basically the entire student body) at once. We have taken notice of the amount of time it takes students to wait in line at the start of the lunch period and it takes 15-20 max until the line dies down. My suggestion to students would be to wait 15 minutes if they want to get through the line quickly. They will then still have plenty of time to spare to eat their lunch before they have to get to class. We love serving the students and staff in Campus Dining. Thank you for being patient with us while we are always trying to improve more efficient ways.”
The Eye would once again like to thank everyone who took the time to share their thoughts and opinions with us. But we haven’t been the only ones talking about the schedule. We sat down with Assistant Principal Mr. David Sabol ’99 for an exclusive interview about the changes to the schedule, in which he responds to many of the most popular comments students made about it. Please read this article to hear the administration’s thoughts and understand why changes were made!
