Contract Causes Schedule Adjustment

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YIFANG NIE
Co-News Editor
59 minutes in second period, one 40-minute lunch, and a 2:45 p.m. dismissal. All of these are changes instigated by the administration at the beginning of the ‘09-’10 year. However, these changes have now been reversed, and students will now have to adjust to the previous school year’s bell schedule.
Effective since Feb. 2, the new schedule allows for a 2:41 p.m. dismissal,  four minutes shorter than what the old schedule allowed.
However, because each student must have 64,867 instructional minutes per school year, as stated in the teacher contract, the minutes that were cut from the end of the day had to be added elsewhere.
Consequently, two minutes have been taken out of second period, making it 57 minutes long, and two out of lunch, resulting in a 38-minute break.
According to Principal Brad Walsh, it was easiest to take minutes from those two periods.
“Second period was [made] a little longer to let teachers read the bulletin, [so] the easiest [way] was to shorten it,” said Walsh.
The change occurred because the original schedule conflicted with terms stated in the teachers’ contract, which said that teachers must be on campus for seven hours.
With the new schedule, teachers are now given time to take care of tasks that need to be done before class, as they must be at school by 7:41 am.
“[The new schedule] makes sure teachers have that time [to do what is needed] to prep for the day,” said Walsh.
For some teachers, the new schedule is a plus.
“I like it. It’s not a very big change, so it’s easy for students to adapt to it. It’s really not a change for students to get to school early, but rather, for teachers to have time to [prepare],” said Psychology teacher Linh Hoac.
Students, on the other hand, experienced a range of feelings, from indifference to confusion, regarding the change.
For instance, junior Richard Poun is largely unaffected by the change.
“[During wrestling season], I have practice, so I leave school at 6 p.m. I [also] don’t have a fifth, so it doesn’t really bother me much,” said Poun.
Senior Aileen Chen felt that the change was unnecessary and harmed teachers.
“It’s pointless. They just don’t want to pay the teachers whatever minutes they’re taking off. They shouldn’t have changed [the schedule] in the first place,” said Chen.
It is unknown whether the schedule will remain the same next year.