A/B or 5 Day Schedule? Differing Views On The Schedule Changes

There have been many changes to Masterman recently, including a new principal, developing school selection policy, and rapid schedule changes. Masterman had always had a 5-day, 8-period schedule with advisory in the morning until last year. For the 2023-2024 school year, the schedule was suddenly changed to a 7-period schedule with slightly longer periods and extended advisory at the end of the school day. An A/B schedule was also implemented where the schedule for A-days and schedules for B-days alternated every other day. Now, the schedule has been reverted back to the original schedule, which has caused some confusion and disorientation as students and teachers adjust to the change. This has sparked some discussion over which one is better. 

Supporters of the old schedule often point to the benefits of having advisory in the morning: it allows students to prepare for tests, connect with their friends before the school day starts, and sometimes even serves as a time to catch up on homework. Moreover, it serves as a buffer time for late students, so they don’t have to worry about missing the first few minutes of first period. According to Kaddy Ren (12-3), president of the Masterman’s Student Government Association, under the A/B schedule “teachers who taught 1st period often lost a lot of instructional time with kids coming late.” Morning advisory also allows advisors to share news at the beginning of the day, which allows important information to be shared the day it happens, as opposed to the day before, when information could be easily forgotten after school. Finally, another benefit of the old schedule is that it allows more clubs. Kaddy said, “With the AB schedule [teachers] became a lot less free to sponsor clubs, because… if there are only two schedules and they rotate between the two every week, the number of teacher sponsors that are available is basically cut in half.” She also explained how she felt that clubs were integral to the Masterman community.

There are then those that think that the A/B schedule is better. They feel that having a longer advisory at the end of the day was more beneficial to students as it functioned as a study hall, allowing students time to work on homework, chat with friends, and organize their belongings before the end of the school day. The later advisory also helped students that were leaving early due to clubs or sports as these students could leave early for their events and not have to worry about missing class or making up work. As Mr. Kamison, a ninth grade English teacher, said, “I liked to have that last period as a study hall… that [was] a way for students who do sports or do after school activities to have a grace period to leave early and not miss a class, or to get their things in order before the end of the class.”

However, most agree that the rapid speed at which the changes happened weren’t very helpful for the Masterman community. Teachers had to redesign their curriculum and lessons to adapt to the A/B period length, and then immediately change back the next year. Students, too, had to readapt to a 5-day schedule. Many students and teachers agree that the school district should just pick a schedule that works and stick with it. “I hope that this is the last schedule change that we see for a really long time.” Kaddy commented. “It’s one of those topics that not everyone will be happy with. So we have to stick to something and build a routine,” Mr. Kamison said. So though nobody agrees on which schedule is better, it is clear that the hasty changes have been wearying to teachers and students alike.