6-day Schedule

By Cara Horsman

Students were used to a five-day schedule. Nobody complained about how annoying it was to figure out what day it was- because every week was the same. You only needed to know whether it was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. That was until 447 went back to the six-day cycle- for the Expo.

“I don’t mind this new schedule, but some kids in my grade don’t like the longer Expo days.” August Pera from 802 states.

Three years ago, before the 8th graders of this year were at this school, a six-day schedule was in place. It had been used for many years, but when Covid occurred and Expo trips were extinct, they went into a five-day schedule. But recently this year, the school decided to remove Expo weeks and add another day onto the class cycle schedule (no, there is no school on Saturday!), causing no two class schedule weeks to be the same. Many students question whether this change was beneficial or unnecessary, and it is still up for debate.

“This new schedule has my classes closer together, which makes the crowding worse. Before, the classes were pretty far apart.” Pera also told reporters.

“I like how the school made it so if your favorite day is A day, and you have a day off, then you won’t miss it.” Amaru Banigo from 806. “I like the new schedule because [with the 5-day schedule] you go through the same thing every week. Now every week is different and it’s interesting.”

Reporters wanted the real reason for the sudden switch, so they got an email from one of the Expo Teachers.

“There are many reasons why we prefer [the six-day schedule] at 447.” 8th grade Expo Teacher Mr. Grosshander states. “Throughout the year, NYC observes many holidays that result in the closing of schools. A six-day cycle ensures an equal number of letter days across the year. We no longer have to miss a specific day's schedule because of no school. It simply shifts to the next day.” Mr. Grosshandler also states that a 6-day cycle allows 48 periods in one cycle, while a normal week only has 40.

After feeling satisfied with the new information, reporters went back to the community.

“I think the reason the school went this direction,” Banigo states, “is because they wanted one day of the week to go on Expo trips.”

“We decided to return to this schedule mainly because of the equal number of days,” Mr. Grosshandler claims, “but it also allows the Exploration to have more opportunities for out-of-classroom learning.

“I feel like the old schedule isn’t bad,” Pera said., “but I don’t think it would’ve hurt to change it a bit. This new schedule is interesting in good and bad ways.”

For the final interview, reporters decided to continue the gathering of community opinions through 8th grader Swan Gira.

“I think that the new schedule is a bit boggling because it loses a sense of structure we had before,” Swan told reporters. “This new schedule is causing a bit of stress because it’s completely fluid and there’s not any solidarity.”

The main thing that is up for debate is whether having every week being a new story ever is a good or bad thing. It is pretty clear that the opinions are divided, some think that the lack of structure is interesting, some find it stressful, and others don’t mind, but one thing is certain. As the year goes on, students can come to their conclusions through the experiences of more expo trips and less repetition.