Taking Action to Change the Schedule

For the last four years Fair Grove schools has had a four day school week. Along with this they have had an 8th hour in the day.

When the week was shortened to 4 days they had to extend the school day by 35 minutes so they could meet the State’s requirements. With this time they added a productivity hour to the end of the day for students to get extra help with homework, make up tests and get tutoring if needed. 

Next year the school has decided to move this hour to the middle of the day, but shorten it by ten minutes and add that time to lunch. “Compared to the ‘old’ schedule, one minute has been added to each class period, our lunch period has been extended to 29 minutes, and our advisory period has changed to 28 minutes,” stated Mr. Overstreet, the High School Principal.

On the 23 and 24 of March the High school did trial runs on how the new schedule would work out. “Our biggest worry was how lunch would go. Based on how it went, our kids did great,” said Mr. Overstreet.

All things went well, but of course there will always be revisions to plans. “One thing we noticed is we will have to have more microwaves available for students during lunch,” commented Mr. Overstreet.

In the past years having this productivity hour at the end of the day has worked well with student athletes leaving early, due to them missing very little of their classes. This time at the end of the day was also used as a time to have pep rallies, assemblies and club meetings to prevent from having to pull students from class. 

The school has thought this through and has come up with an available solution for students. Mr. Overstreet commented, “Unfortunately, there is not a lot we can do with student-athletes leaving early for sports and contests. However, one thing we have done to prepare for the potential change of the bell schedule is we have made 7th hour weights next year co-ed. This will allow male and female athletes to be in a weights class 7th hour and if they have to leave early, they will be missing that class.”

Fair Grove High School has a Vo Tech program available for students though our local community college, OTC. In the past students that attend this program have been gone for this productivity hour. The school is excited that with this schedule change the Vo Tech students will be able to attend this hour to receive help and attend school functions.

Students and faculty have different viewpoints as well as pros and cons over the whole schedule change. “Change can always be scary and uncomfortable, but I believe that the pros will outweigh the cons. There are a lot of schools that have advisory time in the middle of the day and state that productivity is much better. Cons might be figuring out how to make the most of club meeting time since we have decreased the amount of time we have for meetings, but this is part of life. We learn to adapt to change and adversities. We can either see things in life as obstacles or opportunities. I choose to see it as a welcomed opportunity to improve the purpose of why advisory time was created,” said Mrs. Overstreet, Fair Grove’s Business & Marketing Teacher as well as FBLA & DECA Advisor.

“The 8th hour change had a slight impact on my class schedule, but I believe it will be for the better for all. We moved the School Store to the middle of the day, which will still allow students to shop during advisory. This then will move my plan period to the next hour,” stated Mrs. Overstreet. This change affects many teachers’ schedules, but most changes are welcomed as they are for the better. 

Mrs. Johnson, who is in the history department and is the National Honor Society Advisor commented, “This doesn’t really affect my schedule.  I do like that my 4th hour is not cut into two parts with lunch in the middle.  I often just get going and we have to take a break for lunch. Now my 4th hour will not have that disruption.” Mrs. Johnson brought up a good point because many teachers don’t like that their class is split in half because of lunch. This is a large disruption because usually when students come back from lunch they are distracted and struggle to finish the day’s lesson plan.

On the side of cons, students are not fond of this change. “Having an advisory in the middle of the day honestly disrupts it because it is right before lunch and I do not have all my homework from all of my classes yet. I will be less motivated to get the work done that I can when all I can think about is lunch. Again I will not have had all my classes to receive my homework to work on in this advisory time,” stated Faith Klindworth, 11th grade student.

Many of the harder classes, like the math courses that Fair Grove offers are later in the day and students have said for this to be a conflict. “I have many of my hard classes after this new advisory period so I will be receiving my homework after and not having time to work on it before my school day ends. This also conflicts with my sports because if it is at the end of the day and I have to leave school early for a game then I will be missing something most likely important,” voiced Klindworth. 

The school is taking this action to see if it will be both beneficial and favorable to the students.