The start of the school year is always full of chaos, confusion, and plenty of changes. Much of high school is defined by time-honored tradition passed down year after year. These rituals can make transitions and major changes unwelcome by many of the student body very frequently. We’ve seen these negative reactions regarding many aspects of RMHS this year with parking passes and changes to senior privileges being a couple of the many that have kicked off the school year. However as the saying goes, “when one door closes. another opens,” and the alterations to the schedule this year have been welcomed with open arms by students.
Since Principal Bakr entered RMHS two years ago, many conversations with parents and students led him to the conclusion that considering a new schedule was crucial. “The schedule came up a lot in terms of it being very limiting and sometimes confusing, and in terms of kids being able to take multiple courses that they are interested in,” said Bakr. With many of these concerns in mind, this schedule is the best of all worlds for students, staff, and administration alike. Virtually no class time is lost, and multiple new opportunities are gained while still following the 990 hours required by the state.
After reviewing many different schedule formats at multiple different schools, this slightly adjusted schedule was decided upon. “We were looking seriously at a schedule change, but it got too close to the end of the year to make a real huge overall change. We decided to keep the schedule mostly as it is with the seven-day rotation, the drop, and just build in a little bit of time with the thirty minute block of time on Tuesdays, and the flex block every other week,” Bakr explained.
The removal of homeroom was the largest contributor to all of the new possibilities presented this year. Over the course of the school year, homeroom took up 37 hours between the five minutes in homeroom and the four minutes of passing time transitioning to the first block of the day. Clearly, these seeming few minutes added up over time and taking homeroom off the schedule this year opened up more time for more important academic necessities. According to Bakr, "We wanted to find places where kids could get extra help, and could get enrichment and work together without having a loss at all in terms of rigor and instructional learning time.”
Administration did just that with the implementation of new “office hours” every Tuesday that last from 7:30 to 8:00 in the morning. This time is when teachers are required to be in their classrooms to assist students in a myriad of ways, whether that is extra help, making up a quiz, or catching up on missed work.
Flex block every other Thursday is another addition to the schedule which allows for this extra academic flexibility to encourage success. This block is an added period throughout the day, and other periods only lose five minutes (going from 52 to 47 minutes) in order to budget time for it. This block is designed for all students to have an opportunity to get extra work done, but has specifically been tailored to seniors in their college process as of late. This block benefits all students, but the specialized effort to lessen college-induced stress through meetings with guidance counselors to work on applications and answer questions is clear.
Schedule changes are crucial for other smaller demographics of students as well, like those struggling either academically or emotionally, “District-wide we’ve been talking about MTSS (Massachusetts Tiered System of Supports) which includes ways to try to support kids who are struggling emotionally or academically. One of the solutions is scheduling, and trying to find ways to use the schedule to give interventions and give help,” said Bakr. This new schedule was created with the desire in mind to provide struggling students with extra facets of support without “losing ground with the kids who are really doing well,” he further explained.
The constant adaptation that RMHS undergoes to better the educational experience for its students is unparalleled, whether or not you are in support of the scheduling changes made this year. But, the administration’s commitment to hearing student input and needs, and not only listening, but acting, is something that will never change.