This past school year, the Edmonds School District (ESD) dealt with many changes. Budget cuts the update of the district’s freedom of expression policy, and one of the biggest alterations, school schedules.
Every Friday, schools are now ending 75-minutes earlier than the rest of the week. Middle schools and early-start elementary schools begin and end at the same time, 8:10 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. But none of that really affects us here at Terrace. For me, the part that makes the least sense is the updated schedules for high schools. Guess what? We end school at 1:57 p.m. now!
Wait, what?!
We have… seven whole extra minutes. Not five, not 10, seven. Exactly. Seven. I mean, nobody wants to be at school longer than they have to. But come on man, the length of classes used to be on the hour or on every 55 minute mark. Unfortunately, we get numbers that aren’t very aesthetically pleasing.
Everyday seven extra minutes are added to the end of school, while every Friday we end up with this not quite half day, not quite full day schedule. While this may not seem like it affects students all too much, many are pretty frustrated with the new school years schedule. Parents, clubs, students with jobs, seventh periods, and all class times will be affected, and at this point it seems like nobody actually wants this schedule. Having seven extra minutes at the end of the day may not seem like a lot, but that will affect what time the buses leave, what time students get home, what time clubs start etc. Fridays will now have a schedule that is longer than a half day, and shorter than a full day, and that doesn’t really work for anyone.
Students suffering from anxiety, students that struggle with changes in routine, families, and students with jobs are just some of the communities affected by these schedule changes. As someone who has severe anxiety surrounding schedule changes, it can feel incredibly overwhelming to start a new school year, with already so many changes, and now on top of that, we’re having an overall change in everyday schedule. This pushes back the time students will come home, which can affect students with after school priorities, like jobs, taking care of younger siblings, chores and homework. Families will have to shift around this schedule change, which could be really difficult depending on your situation.
This may not seem like a big deal if you look at it from a regular perspective, but as someone who’s dealt with roughly four big schedule changes since starting school at MTHS, this is a bit extreme. I mean, class start/end times changing was hard enough, even though the changes were small. It was still super inconvenient after getting comfortable with one schedule. Along with that, finding childcare that’s affordable itself is difficult, but changing the time you need it? Just as, if not more inconvenient for families.
I struggle to find a world where this schedule could be more effective and or useful for those affected. It seems like nobody actually wants this schedule, and yet here we are, stuck with it for who knows how long.