Mid-Year Bell Schedule Adjustment Agitates Students Who Are Still Adapting To The Distance/Hybrid School Year

Over the course of the distance learning school year, students have been constantly adjusting to many sorts of changes, such as working from home, preparing each lunch on their own, and balancing their screen time. As of January 21, Principal Michelle Luttrell announced that the second semester of school will follow a brand new bell schedule.

The new bell schedule was established to give distance/hybrid students the flexibility to quickly pivot back and forth between stages without having to change schedules or transportation; additionally, this eliminated the learning lab time. Prior to this decision, learning lab time was held for the last twenty minutes of class as a time where students could seek needed help or work asynchronously. Teachers were not allowed to assign extra work during the learning lab, however, teachers now have the option of teaching throughout the end of class. Not all students appreciate the change, and many teens expressed their concerns.

“I understand where administrators are coming from, but I will never understand why the school board let us get used to the schedule in the fall, if they knew they would have to change it mid-year for hybrid,” sophomore Genesis Chhour said. “There should have been one definite schedule that would benefit students regardless of distance or hybrid; yet the school seems to wonder why kids don’t have the motivation to do school anymore.”

Out of an informal survey of seventy LCHS students, 98% had negative opinions about why they strongly oppose the changes brought about by the mid-year bell change. The vast majority of students’ responses in the survey believe that the asynchronous learning lab for each class was essential for a variety of reasons.

“The schools board’s decision to take away the learning lab was terrible,” junior Mairenn Blest said. “To have students stare at a computer screen for an hour straight was already bad enough and strained our eyes; now the new schedule makes it even harder to pay attention.”

Additionally, senior Bess Fields is apprehensive about the normality of learning through a black mirror, and the effects of having zero breaks throughout the day. “Administrators cannot expect us to be glued to a computer for seven hours with a thirty minute lunch break and pretend like that is appropriate for this adjusted school year,” Fields said. “Mainly, I am really concerned about the younger students in elementary school, they are going to be so messed up from this.”

According to the survey, many students have a dislike for the immediate block changes between each class. “The alteration does not give students the proper breaks and time to complete in class assignments,” junior Charlotte Penberthy said. “I hate it.”

The other main concern many students became vocal about was the dramatic change in lunch schedules. Junior Sophie Hylton stressed how inconvenient the bell switch has been for managing to eat during the online school day. “I have to cook all my food, eat my lunch, all while cleaning up after myself in less than thirty minutes,” Hylton said. “I seriously prefer having the longer lunch time.”

Despite the unamused student responses, the Captains are slowly adjusting to the unwanted change brought by LCHS administration. “Teachers lecturing for a whole hour and thirty minutes through a screen just gives me a headache,” junior Chris Mejia said. “We seriously needed those mental breaks in between classes.”