New Year, New Schedule

It was a dark and stormy night and a new schedule had been brewing at St. Christopher’s School. The creation of a new schedule started in early 2022, about a year before it would first be tested. The school got help from Independent School Management, or ISM for short with the process of designing the new model. Through lots of meetings and discussions in conjunction with St. Catherine’s School and the administration devised a new daily schedule. This new schedule has each class meeting from the initial four times a week to only three. However, to compensate for fewer classes, their length has been extended to either a 70-minute or a 60-minute period. STC has had the same schedule for over a decade, but it lacked adaptability, a notion highlighted by COVID-19. An example of a change to the old schedule is having two lunches. Everyone in the upper school has only ever experienced having either first or second lunch. This was not originally part of the schedule, but rather a necessary feature set to accommodate appropriate precautions due to COVID-19. Another massive change that happened several years ago was the class order switching weekly, which used to happen three times instead of twice. That’s why the periods are lettered by A, B, and C. There used to be an “A Week,” “B Week,” and “C Week,” which has since been replaced by 1 A and 2 C. 

Mr. Jake Westermann, who has only been here for a year as the Head of the Upper School, was helping run and create the new schedule. Mr. Westermann worked with ISM himself before St. Christopher’s, giving him the experience needed. Before his arrival, Mr. Westermann said “[St. Christopher’s] knew, more or less what the architecture of the schedule was going to look like with minor changes and modifications.” That said, the new schedule will be subject to change. Mr. Westermann said, “you adopt it and then you keep [the schedule] for three years.” The first year of the schedule is adapting to it and learning while the second year is more comfortable and normal to live with it. Around the third year, ISM recommends tweaking and making adjustments based on the previous two years. Those who are freshmen will be seniors when the schedule is subject to change.

A lot of changes to the schedule are an attempt to eliminate the transition between classes. In theory, having fewer classes will make students have less daily work due each day; however, it will take time for teachers to adapt. A large part of the scheduling is the position and rotation of classes. Students will never have the same class in the morning on consecutive days. It serves as a way for students to experience all classes at whatever their ideal time may be. Students heavily involved in athletics will no longer have to miss the same class as frequently to depart for competitions and games. Another major aspect of the change is the fact that the schedule more reflects what you'll see in college and that’s ultimately one of the main goals for a school like St. Christopher’s. Fewer class periods will also reduce the amount of time students will have to travel to and from St. Christopher’s or St. Catherine’s, respectively.

Regarding workload, Mr. Westermann, Mr. Emmet Carlson and Dr. Kim Hudson all predicted less work to be given out. Not having six or seven classes a day means you won't have “six or seven classes worth of homework due,” says Mr. Westermann. If teachers have trouble adjusting, administrators will help in creating a more manageable homework load. Projects and tests will remain on a somewhat maintained schedule. It is very unlikely that students will ever have three or four tests in one day. If a student does have that many tests in a day, working with their teachers to possibly move one is always an option they can utilize.  

Having more time in the day with “flex” periods and such helps with the frequency of community activities at St. Christopher’s. “Flex” periods are similar to the “X” periods we have currently. They are a time set aside for either free time or community activities. Some “flex” periods will be used for more speakers and house activities while others will be free time for students to catch up on work or meet with teachers. Flex periods will also provide a much-needed time for clubs to meet for longer intervals. As of right now, if a student chooses to participate in club activities, they either meet for a short time during the day or wait until after post-school activities, which is an issue that will be solved with the new flex times. 

The change to 60 or 70-minute classes has caused lots of confusion around whether or not breaks should be given out. For 70-minute classes, there will almost always be a break, but 60 minutes is where the line gets blurred. If a long break is given out to students, it eliminates the purpose of having a longer period. However, 60 minutes is still short enough to not require a break. According to Mr. Westermann, it will depend on the content of the class. If students are moving around and doing a more dynamic lesson then a break should not be necessary. Inversely, a short break should be given out if a class is mostly lectures to best engage students for the full period.

 The new schedule is designed to be a refreshing change of pace for students and faculty whether or not it is initially accepted as the best option. However, it will take time to adjust to this new daily schedule and is subject to change in the future.