Staples implements daily A/B schedule

Shira Zeiberg ’22, Staff Writer|March 25, 2020

A/B schedule will be put in place starting March 26. During each time period students will have Zoom meetings available and other ways to communicate with teachers.

Staples will begin an A/B schedule starting Thursday, March 26 where students meet with classes from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m for the duration of the distance learning academic plan. On A days, periods one through four will meet and on B days periods five through eight will meet.

Some Staples students are not pleased with the new set schedule as they don’t have the ability to complete their workload on their own schedule.

“I don’t personally love the new schedule because of the set time one must have to do their work,” Alie Shutze ’22 said. “With everything going on I have been waking up later and doing my work when I am comfortable. Waking up at 8:30 a.m. and doing work for four consecutive hours is going to be hard on everyone.”

Students will now be required to be available for class and do not have the option to sleep in late.

“Now that we are moving to a much longer period of time out, we found that it would be best to go back to a traditional Staples schedule,” Principal Stafford W. Thomas Jr. said in a video announcement through 70 North.

Formerly, students received work from all eight periods each day. Classes lacked a designated meeting time, though teachers had to be available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. via email or Google Hangouts to communicate with students and provide assistance.

Under the newly-implemented schedule, the school day starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 12:15 p.m. Students have a 15-minute break after their first two periods. At the end of each day, there will be specific times where one can get extra help with a teacher after the school day.

“I actually like the new schedule because it’s more laid out for me. I also have more time to finish my work and not be as stressed,” Haley Roraback ’22 said.

Online meeting programs will also be used and accessible. Teachers will be communicating with students and helping them navigate the brand new remote learning system.

“This will be a richer learning experience for students, and a richer learning experience for your teachers,” Thomas said. “This is something we are looking forward to getting started with.”