Behind The Revised Schedule

This school year, Middlesex is full of changes: a new head of school, new faculty, new students, and a revised schedule. And in a year of many changes, the flow of the school heading forward will be primarily dictated by the structure and organization of this revised schedule. When speaking to Mr. Pillai, the creator of the revised schedule, I was able to understand the rationale behind all the changes to the schedule. The first thing to understand is the Middlesex program, which Mr. Pillai called the “4 A’s”: Academics, Athletics, Advising, and Arts. The revised schedule was designed to give more flexibility and reduce conflicts whilst keeping all programs as robust as they were in the old schedule, so that every Middlesex student could access all aspects of the Middlesex program and create their unique program. Mr. Pillai told me that he would prefer the schedule to be considered revised and not new, and although I see it as a new schedule, I can see his point. Mr. Pillai noted how the revised schedule is not creating anything substantially new; it is just restructuring time to avoid the many conflicts the old schedule had. One of the primary conflicts of the past schedule was between Arts and Athletics, particularly for the choral groups. Dr. Wetzel, the Head of the Music Department, told me how the old schedule was “really problematic” with Chapel Chorus meeting after athletics and before study hours, giving students no breaks and numerous conflicts. Dr. Wetzel said that he is “optimistic” and “curious” about how the revised schedule will impact Middlesex, and specifically the Music Department. Another issue with the old schedule was conflicts between Academics and Advising, where many advisees, including myself, didn’t share free blocks with their advisor. Additionally, the old schedule failed to account for the disparity of total class minutes between different blocks in which blocks that met on Saturday and Monday met less frequently than those on other days. Moreover, the old schedule was not built for big school events, guest speakers, and long assemblies, leading to disruptive special schedules. Also, according to Mr. Pillai, student feedback suggested that many said the prior schedule, “felt like go, go, go, go with Sunday being catchup and the cycle repeating,” so the revised schedule aims to “support a sustainable and measured pace.” So how exactly does the revised schedule solve these issues of the recent past? First, every class meets fewer times a week, and yes, that means there will be fewer homework assignments. But class time should remain the same for all classes except for classes that met five times a week and had an L block in the prior schedule, such as APUSH, science classes, and AP Computer Science A. To have the same amount of time, many classes will use the new extension blocks, which add 25 minutes before or after the regular block and after the first few days of class. The revised schedule also addresses the challenges posed by a special schedule by adjusting how assemblies work with two distinct blocks, Announcements and Community Time, which serve as designated space for longer events,reducing the need for special schedules. To make the schedule more equitable to class time, there is a Red and White week system in which Wednesday and Saturday classes alternate between weeks and certain class drop one of their extension block. Occasionally, there will be occasions where there are two Red weeks in a row or two White weeks in a row to balance time. To make it easier for students to meet with their advisor, the schedule has designated advisor blocks. To make a more sustainable schedule, the new schedule starts later for most students, ends on a non-academic block for most days, and includes a Saturday sleep-in, meaning that students should have more time to sleep throughout the week and some breathing time before practice in the same way L blocks afforded. However, these changes will push back athletics and study hours later in the day. The biggest change in the schedule comes from the longer lunch blocks on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are about two hours long and allow choral groups to meet during the day. Additionally, the changes that were intended to solve several problems also have benefits in other aspects of the Middlesex community, primarily extracurricular activities. With longer lunches and later study hours, clubs will have more time to meet, and extracurricular activities that didn’t exist in the past due to a lack of time can now exist thanks to an abundance of free time (for those who don’t spend a lot of time in the arts) to direct towards other interests. Also, having time before study hours to enjoy the circle and have club meetings is more important to the Middlesex community than time after study hours. Although the school has only experienced the schedule for a few days at the time of writing this article, it looks like we will be enjoying a lot of benefits this school year.

BEN FEUER