Celiang Huang, Staff-writer
Many people have forgotten that this year’s bell schedule was brand new to Galileo, with the school starting at 8:40 am and ending at 3:50 pm compared to the schedule of the last 15 years when school began at 8:00 am and ended at 3:10 pm. With a number of students and staff having a hard time adjusting, the school plans on tweaking the bell schedule for next year.
The main questions about what to change next year are; whether to merge homeroom into one of the block class periods or not, and whether the school should end 5 minutes earlier on Mondays, Tuesdays & Fridays but get rid of the finals schedule at the end of each semester.
“We have been having conversations about the students’ learning conditions, and we are still discussing the new schedule for the next school year. Currently, we are considering early release and ways to handle homeroom,” said assistant principal, Mr. Panjabi.
One of the reasons the school is deciding on getting rid of the homeroom is because many staff feel students don’t take responsibility for attending homeroom, since students believe that it’s optional and it’s not that big of a deal to cut homeroom.
However, some teachers believe that it’s necessary to keep homeroom the way it is and that it will be hard for students to focus on the class curriculum without a homeroom break, and in a long and highly intensive learning environment, it’s necessary for students to have the opportunity to loosen up. Science teacher, Mr. Chinn, who favors homeroom, said “Each period is longer if they decide to do that version of [bell schedule], it’s debatable. Personally, I like homerooms. It’s nice to know students for 4 years since we normally meet for 1 year. Block day is long. Kids need a break.”
Freshman Javier A. also said that getting rid of the homeroom break makes the class time become longer which means students have less free time for themselves and to relax during the homeroom break. He says, “We should keep the homeroom, it’s like a cooldown for [students], less tired.”
On the other hand, Freshman Gian G. believes that merging homerooms into other classes could be a good thing. He said “I’d rather merge the homeroom because I need more time in [block-day] classes. I don’t even know the purpose of the homeroom. We don’t do anything there and it’s less productive than if I had class.”
While many people have opinions about the new bell schedule, nothing has been finalized. Mr. Panjabi said, “It would be a good idea if we have a process to have feedback and agree on it in order to build an ideal community for everyone.”
