Many students are finding that the rotating blocks allow for better homework management.

“When you have a class, you don’t have to do the homework right away,” junior Lili Koohestani said. “If you have an essay that’s due the next day, it’s actually due in two days. You have a lot more time to work on your homework.”

Senior Juan Gutierrez also agrees that homework completion is easier with the new schedule.

“I actually do have more time to finish homework,” Gutierrez said. “It’s not a bad schedule for homework.”

According to guidance counselor Susan Schultz, easing student stress was among the top priorities in introducing the new schedule.

“Having fewer classes each day is just a stress reliever in that there aren’t as many transitions,” Shultz said. “You’re not preparing for as many classes every day. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s going to be less homework, but maybe it feels like it’s spread out a bit more. It’s supposed to have a big impact on student stress.”

Despite easier homework management, the rotating blocks have caused conflicts for students with after-school extracurriculars.

“I work at NASA after school, and it takes time to commute to NASA Ames,” senior Scott Zhuge said. “I used to work at the same time each day. However, with the rotating block schedule, a seventh prep is no longer useful on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Additionally, tutorial makes leaving early on Thursdays impossible.”

Staff have also had mixed reactions to the new schedule. Social studies teacher Steve Foug is already finding that teaching longer periods is more challenging than expected.

“Honestly, it’s going to be a little bit more difficult,” Foug said. “Blocks are nice time and again for expanded lessons, simulations. But I’ve already gotten in the trap early this year of me talking too long. It’s tricky to plan because for 90 minutes, you want to have at least three different things during that time.

Nonetheless, Foug acknowledges that there are numerous advantages to the new schedule, among them: easier grading.

“In terms of grading, you just stagger your grading to get it back to classes,” Foug said. “It’s going to be a little bit easier to try and get work back in a timely fashion.”

Aside from rotating blocks, the primary goal of the new schedule is the later start time.

“The main goal, first and foremost, was the later start to the school day,” Shultz said. “Everyone knows that teenagers have different sleep cycles than adults, and everything you read tells us that school starts too early for high school kids.”

The administration chose the 8:15 a.m. start time with hopes that students would be arrive at school better prepared for classes.

“Clearly 7:50 a.m. was too early, Shultz said. “We wanted a later start for students, basically to get more rest, therefore hopefully being more prepared for school in the morning.”

Some students, appreciating the extra time to sleep in, agree with the reasoning behind the later start time.

“Starting [time], I think it’s good,” senior Juan Gutierrez said. “You get a few more minutes of sleep.”

While some enjoy the additional sleep, others, such as senior Lance Cummins, are finding more traffic with the later start time.

“Now our commute overlaps with the middle school commute,” Cummins said.

Accompanying the later start is a later dismissal, which has generated concerns among athletes and the administration over potential conflicts that may consequently arise.

“I’m an athlete, so my practice doesn’t end until 6:30 p.m. at night,” junior Lili Koohestani said. “By the time I get to work, it’s probably 7:30 p.m., so it’s not that much time to do homework.”

Shultz said that the administration focused heavily on addressing problems involved with the later dismissal during the design process, especially for athletes who are particularly at risk of missing class time.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about [the later dismissal] because that was one of the largest drawbacks to the schedule,” Shultz said. That is part of the reason why Tuesdays and Thursdays get out a bit earlier than the rest of the days of the week, because Tuesdays and Thursdays are the higher impact athletic days. That is something we will be evaluating.”

The experimental tutorial period, which will be piloted for the first time this week, has also received varied responses on its effectiveness. While the question and answer session during the first tutorial period clarified some confusion, some students remain skeptical of the idea behind a mandatory tutorial.

“It shouldn’t be mandatory for everybody because there are people who don’t need help and are being forced to stay in a class for another hour,” Gutierrez said.

Foug believes that a time allocated for students to seek help will benefit those who use it wisely.

“In spirit, I think [tutorial] is a great idea,” Foug said. “It’s designated time to get that extra help where as otherwise you’re trying to find that time in other parts of the day which can be tough. As long as students take advantage of it, I think it should be great.”

According to Shultz, the earliest a revised schedule would take effect would be the next school year, regardless of whether or not students and staff support the new schedule.

“You can’t evaluate a bell schedule after one semester,” Shultz said. “But after a full year, we’ll be getting feedback from all stakeholders and we will be evaluating it. But I don’t think anything will change this school year because we’re not giving the new bell schedule a fair chance if we don’t run it for a year.”