Everyone’s aware of the new time changes at the NHS that came into account this September. Now that there's been a few weeks into the new school year, students have some mixed feelings about these changes. The previous start time was 7:45 am with students arriving as early as 7 am. Now there has been a pushback by 30 minutes, starting at 8:15 am, with hopes that students will get more rest and be ready for the day.

A later start time means a later dismissal which can be hard for student-athletes or teachers with busy lives outside of school. 

“I don't like the later start time because once I get home I do not have as much free time. I play volleyball and with school getting out later it means less time to get changed for games. I also get home around 9 pm so it can be hard to get all my work done,”  said sophomore Nelly Kostadinova. 

Another student-athlete, Olivia Loud, has also found that everything has been pushed back which makes the adjustment a little harder.

“I don't like the new start time because I don't even use the extra 40 minutes in the morning. Classes are pretty long which makes me upset sometimes. Because I do volleyball our practices start later and we get less time to get ready for games. I get home around 10 now which is pretty late,” Loud said. 

Some students aren’t getting the benefits the school hopes to be giving them. For some, waking up later isn't beneficial since they already have a set routine. Sophomore Nelly Kostadinova already has a schedule she likes to follow. 

“I do want to go back to the previous schedule with school starting at 7:45 because I don't wake up any later. I wake up at 5 am and the later start time doesn’t really matter to me.” 

While others enjoy waking up at their own time, many enjoy sleeping in as much as possible. 

“I don’t really like the later start time because we get out at like 3. Yes, I do like getting up later, I like my sleep but by the time I get home it's like 3:15. Because it's winter it gets darker and it's already nap time. I also don’t like that you can't go into the school until 7:50. That's insane because sometimes I want to sit around in school if my bus comes early. The teachers also need to stay after school and if you need extra help that already makes everything get pushed back to like 4 o'clock. I don’t like what the schools did this year,” said Kyra Walsh.

Adjusting to the new times when periods end is also another hard adjustment.  For many of the teachers that have been working here for years, they have known the time periods for numerous years. 

Art teacher Laurie Mead McGrory has been working in the Norwood school system since 2001 and has seen many changes that the schools have made.

“I came to Norwood High after previously being at the junior high in the fall of 2005. It's been a long time. When I first came to the high school the schedules were a little different with a 7-period cycle dropping 2 periods a day. And then I forget what year it was but we switched over to 6 classes a day dropping 1 up until the pandemic. During the pandemic, we had a different schedule and last year was also different too" she said.

A lot of teachers and students have found that it can be confusing to remember when every period ends and begins.

Laurie Mead McGrory has mixed feelings as she navigates the new schedule. 

 “This year if I didn’t have the schedules written over on the board I would never know when to end class. The times have not stuck in my head yet at all. I can't decide whether I like the change or not. I like the time in the morning but I miss the time in the afternoon. I enjoy not rushing out of my house and feeling like I get something done before I go to school. But then at the end of the day, I'm like oh wait, it's 4 o'clock and I'm still here. I want to get home. I haven't really decided yet," she said.

As well as the new schedule times, period 7 has also been moved to the last period every day Tuesday through Friday.

Several teachers think having period 7 at the same time every day can be hard for students since it is the end of the day when everyone is drained. 

When asked if period 7 is a good idea, History teacher, Kate Curtin said, “Nothing against my period 7 class, but I think it's a disadvantage for the kids in any period 7 class to have that class last period every day because I don't think that all students learn best at that time. I think it's sometimes better to be able to have classes at different times every day and not at the same time Tuesday through Friday.”