The scheduling committee has implemented new changes to the Marlborough schedule following the results of a survey sent out to the student body in the fall, which began to take place last quarter, and will continue to evolve through quarter three. The changes included extending the time allocated for lunch and reducing the time of each class period.
The committee, composed of various Marlborough faculty, is led by three chairs, Athletics and Physical Education Department Head Sheila Pauley, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Regina Rosi-Mitchell, and Director of Middle School Sean Fitts. Fitts attributes many of the changes made as a response to the voice of the student body.
“We get a lot of data, and we want to make sure that we are listening to everyone, not just listening to a few,” Fitts said.
The original first quarter schedule was generated to follow a ten-four model in order to make the possible transition to hybrid learning easier. Allowing for ten days off-campus, and then four days on campus, the general format of the schedule has stayed the same.
However, since health guidelines prevented the awaited return to campus this fall for hybrid learning, the committee came to the consensus that the second-quarter schedule needed amendments.
“We started to realize that there were a lot of complications that came with being online constantly,” Fitts said. To fix these complications, lunch, which was previously 40 minutes, has been extended to an hour, while class periods have been shortened from 70 minutes to only 65.
Annabelle ‘23 likes the change in time “I like long classes, but the 70-minute classes felt too long, so the 65-minute classes are perfect,” she said.
Amelia ‘23 agrees.“The shorter classes have definitely made a difference, even though it’s only five minutes per class, but I still think that it’s just a lot of time being spent on a screen,” she said.
According to Fitts, weighing in all opinions is hard. “I think the difficulty in any change is finding a compromise… we’re always looking for the best fit for as many people as possible, but there’s never really a 100 percent consensus on a schedule,” Fitts said.
Rosi-Mitchell, also added that the process has been quite time-consuming. “I would guess that we have spent well over 100 hours working on various schedule options,” Rosi-Mitchell said.
The schedule during the third quarter will no longer follow the ten-four format, and may need to be changed for quarter four.
“We’re looking at a different kind of schedule… hopefully more manageable when being online,” Fitts said. More information on the changes to come is set to be released on the Friday following spring break.
As online learning continues, the scheduling committee continues to amend the schedule to best fit the Marlborough community and the standing safety guidelines for the city of Los Angeles. Other changes to the second semester include assessment days moved from Monday to Wednesday, but all school meetings will remain on Mondays, and class meetings will still be held on Wednesdays.
“As a school and as a community, we try to find the right balance of everything… really what we’re doing right now is taking in a lot of information, and then taking that information and trying to come up with the best compromise,” Fitts said.