Megan Doyle ’18

The new rotating schedule is not accommodating to many students at Staples High School. Athletes, drama fanatics, Inklings writers, the freshest freshman and the seasoned seniors — the whole bumbling bevy is getting swindled.
First, let’s consider the “rotating” aspect of the new schedule. Every four days it restarts, so no weekday is the same as the last. For example, this Monday will have different classes than next Monday.
This may not seem like a big deal to the administrators, but for students working after school jobs, it’s a huge inconvenience. For instance, I work at a restaurant in town on the weekends, and I would like to pick up weekday shifts. My boss is particularly vexed with me at the moment because of my inability to commit to a specific weekday. But the shifts are from 4 to 9 p.m., certainly not an ample amount of time to work and also finish my homework.
Last year, I would’ve been able to say, “I can work Mondays because I have extended free and last period free so I’ll be able to finish all of my homework before I go to work.” But, due to the fact that each week is different than the next, I can no longer allocate certain days to take shifts, hindering my position at that company.
Fortunately, my family’s financial position does not require me to have a job. But, for the students at Staples who need to work, the schedule makes it difficult to set aside the perfect day. The school is essentially forcing them to choose between schoolwork and money. And I assume most would choose the latter.
The schedule has also changed so it no longer rotates class periods. Now, periods one, two, three and four are always in the morning, and periods five, six, seven and eight are always in the afternoons. Yes, I do realize that some periods were the same last year, like periods two and three, but those are the exception.
I wasn’t completely sure why the administration would change this, so I asked Principal James D’Amico for his input.
“In the old schedule, because all the periods rotated throughout the day, it made it really difficult for us to look at a school day and come up with an alternative plan for students that the eight-period day may not work for,” D’Amico said.
With the new schedule, D’Amico argues, some students are able to fill up their morning periods with core classes, and then go to work, meetings or internships in the afternoon.
Although I understand D’Amico needs to consider the concerns of every student, this issue isn’t widespread. In fact, he admits himself that it’s only a minority of students who require a non-rotating schedule.
For instance, students involved in sports have to miss thirty or more minutes of the last period for away games. This is a problem because now that the afternoon classes have been condensed to four, the likelihood of them missing the same class multiple times is much higher. Last year, the chances of missing the same class was one in five, and now it’s one in four.
In addition, the new schedule negatively affects teachers. Their assigned classes might obligate them to teach periods five through eight, so they’ll have no classes in the morning, but have to teach straight through the afternoon. And vice versa for periods one through four.
Similarly, some students have a harder time working in the mornings. This new schedule may affect their ability to learn, as their more difficult classes might always fall in the morning.
My proposal to the administration is feasible: simply revert back to the old schedule. Newer doesn’t necessarily mean better. I may not be here next year, but I know that my freshman sister and many other students will benefit from the replacement of the old schedule.