There have been a variety of schedules for students over the past several years.
Junior Trinity Eadie said, “I liked the schedule from freshman year because not having certain classes one day then them being back the next day was nice.” Eadie also likes the new late start on Thursday.
“[It’s] all about the teachers. If the teachers don’t grow then the kids in their classrooms don’t grow,” Principal Dunneback said.
During the late starts on Thursday, the teachers who cover the same subject get together to discuss what their plans are. This also gives them time to get work done. She said, “The changes were driven by what we call professional development.”
The new schedule that doesn’t have rotations was made to be simpler and get students in more of a habit. Dunneback said, “It was mainly because teachers were saying that more kids were late for classes. The theory before with the rotating schedule was that it rotated throughout the day and with it only being the morning, more kids didn’t know where they were supposed to be.”
“I would not be surprised if Marist goes back to the schedule that they put so much work into prior to the pandemic where they had constant rotation throughout the day,” she said.
Marist had started to use the rotating schedule prior to when Dunneback became principal.
“From my understanding of the full rotating schedule, [it] was to get kids ready for college because you don’t have the same classes everyday,” she said. Dunneback mentioned going back to that schedule but probably not for a couple of years.
Dunneback said, “We really want to get kids back into the habit of doing work, then maybe we can go back to the rotating schedule with a little more freedom.”
With the original rotating schedule students didn’t have the same classes every day so sometimes they would have to make the decision on when to do their homework. This builds time management skills that will be helpful for college.
Students also like the new late start.
“I do like the late start. If you are having a tough week, a late start on Thursday can help you catch up on homework and sleep,” said sophomore Dan Mahoney.
