Front Page News

Thursday, August, 28, 2025

The city of Byrd High School is undergoing change throughout the school. This biggest change of all? Block Scheduling. This new experience affects all students and staff. Has this been a positive or a negative change for the school? The High Life team investigates:

Caddo Parish School Board announced last school year that all high schools in the district would be going to a block schedule. So what is a block Schedule and where did it come from?

Block scheduling originated in 1959 when J. Loyd Trump, a nationally known secondary school reformer, created something close to the modern day block schedule. This proposal was made by the superintendent at the time. According to a report from the University of West Georgia, Trump’s motivation was to create a block class with separate activities including a “...40-minute lecture, a 100-minute lab, and a 20-minute help session each week” This would increase a teacher's ability to usher students through individualized instruction. 

Block scheduling is one of those topics that is very controversial between whether it is a useful or useless law to pass. On the positive side, block scheduling allows for an additional period in the school year so students can take additional credit. It’s also useful for the students that fall behind because the schedules have become more flexible so students can catch up or retake a course if they need to. 

This is exactly why the new Superintendent of Caddo Parish Schools, Keith Burton, announced last year that all Caddo Parish high schools would be moving to the block schedule. The argument was that the more opportunities students have to complete courses each year, the better high schools are positioned to push their students toward the ultimate goal of graduation and college admissions. 

However, block scheduling does not always come with a positive side. Many students throughout the school year are checking in and out and this allows for those students to miss tons of information while they're absent. This would make the student feel stressed, for they have missed an important part of a lesson because they weren’t there to witness the lesson. Another down side is that fun activities that usually happen throughout the school day are harder to plan. Things like field trips and guest speakers are now events that are stressful for school staff to plan ever since block scheduling was administered. 

Student's interviewed for this article expressed similar concerns, while some remained optimistic. Senior and Student Council President, Tripp Lowry, said, “I really like the block schedule because the course load is a lot less stressful.” Charlotte Broad said that she likes her four classes because, “...there is less to focus on.”  Other students’, however, have differt experiences. Freshman, Ana Veluvolu, for example, was asked if she preferred the four classes or the original seven classes. She said, “No, I like to switch classes more because I get to see my friends more often and there is more variety with the classes.” Students all have mixed feelings about the new blocked scheduling at Byrd High School.

Faculty and staff at C.E. Byrd High School also chimed in about what they think really gets at the heart of the scheduling transition process. While Mrs. Allen, the ninth grade counselor, thinks the new system was difficult because it had never been done before, she also believes that the smaller number of classes is a positive change. Students have more opportunities with few classes to worry about. Dr. Holiday, tenth grade C.E. Byrd, said that she feels that since blocked scheduling is more flexible, it offers more classes to students. “ Four classes are better, especially for those with A.D.H.D and A.D.D”, said Dr. Holiday who championed the move in its ability to support students who struggle with overstimulation. People with A.D.H.D and A.D.D can be overstimulated by things like intense sights, sounds, physical feelings, and smells. When they are overstimulated with extra classes, these people usually tend to feel stressed and have increased anxiety. With less classes and more time they might not feel as overstimulated. There are less classes to focus on and more time for them to really focus on their assignments and take their time.  

Similarly, the principal at C.E. Byrd, Jerry Badgley, believes that Caddo Parish’s mandate of the blocked schedule will positively affect Byrd. Mr. Badgley shared his thoughts on how he thinks a blocked schedule will create benefits and disadvantages for Byrd students and teachers. He explained that “Blocked schedule is designed to reduce load on students and teachers. Students have less classes to worry about and teachers have less students to worry about. Over the course of 4 years, the block schedule will allow kids to take four more classes than they could usually take. It allows for kids,  especially in science, to start and end a project. Really the only downside is that 90-100 minutes is a long time for some students to be in one class. Teachers also have to learn to teach in that period of time.” Mr. Badgley is optimistic and enthusiastic about  the blocked schedule and truly believes it was a good idea for Byrd. His hope is that it will end up benefitting faculty and students in the long run.

For now, the jury is still out on whether the Block schedule will turn out to be a net positive or negative. Until then, tell us what you think below!