Written by Audrey Rogan
Over the past few months it has been going around the school that the start time of Wheatley will be later than what it is currently, 7:50am. The rumors are true! Mr. Wiener has announced through his weekly newsletters an approximate time schedule for the 2024-2025 school year. The estimated school start time at Wheatley is 8:25am, giving students a 35 minute later start in their school day. With this time implemented, the school day will end approximately at 2:52pm.
Conversations have been circling around the idea of the change to the school schedule in the past few months. Some argue that this change is unnecessary and may put students and staff at a disadvantage. However, the majority of students agree with the change and feel that this will be valuable and beneficial.
Starting with the negatives, some students and staff argue that extracurriculars such as sports and clubs will be impacted. Students say that they will get home later in the day than normal. For example, athletes and club members may get home around 4:30pm now but with the bell delay, they may get home at 5pm or later. Personally, I am not sure what the situation will be with the extracurricular activities at Wheatley. Maybe they will be shortened in time or students will have to get to their extracurricular activities with no time wasted. For example, now student athletes have from 2:26pm to roughly 2:45pm to get to their sports practice. However, will the bell change this free time period? Maybe students will end the day at 2:52pm and be expected to be at their sports practice at 2:55pm, giving them little rest time in between. Questions must be raised if this solution to the time schedule will be truly advantageous to the students.
Additionally, another disadvantage is that teachers may feel they can not get home in time to pick up their children from their school or the bus stop. As of right now, teachers have an organized schedule to care for their children, however, now that is all about to change. This is something we should consider. Maybe some teachers will have to pay for babysitters or after school care for their young children.
Despite the negative disadvantages to the time schedule delay, there are many positives. First of all, students will be able to get some extra sleep time – but that is only true if they are going to bed at the same time as they currently do! An extra few minutes of sleep is very beneficial to growing and developing teenagers and hopefully this change will be reflected in their academic and extracurricular achievements. Sleep studies have shown that just a few more minutes of sleep for teens is very valuable – as this may improve teen’s concentration, worth ethic, and overall function through the day. Often times, I hear students saying they are very tired in class and can not concentrate. This change will hopefully reverse these symptoms of tiredness.
Another advantage that the delay of schedule may have for students is that it will improve students’ motivation because students will feel more awake and willing to get tasks done. Often times students who feel tired during the day may take an after school nap, which is very beneficial, however, this does not set a student in the right pathway if the sleep is for an extended period of time. Students may feel more awake by getting some more overnight sleep and therefore find themselves feeling motivated to tackle their school work and studying during the day.
One significant change to the bell schedule is that each period is designed to be 39 minutes instead of the current 40 minutes. Overall, the topic of changing the bell schedule has been discussed over the years at Board of Education meetings, during class discussions such as health class, and has been highly debated in the hallways and basic conversations.
On a final note, we will not know what we are missing until we try. As of right now, it is planned to have a changed bell schedule for next school year. If this does not work out, at least we know that we tried and will find more information about what is best for our school district with the students and staff included.