In Cresskill High School’s final weeks of school, the administration decided to have a test run for a potential new schedule. This new bell schedule could be used next year and would make Cresskill more similar to surrounding schools.
Currently, students must enter the high school at 7:40 am and are only dismissed at 3 pm. Periods are 45 minutes long with a 4-minute intermission between each period. This schedule is longer than most neighboring schools which begin after 7:40 am and leave as early as 2:45 pm. The new schedule which was tested last Tuesday and Wednesday, began at 7:50 am and ended at 2:45 pm with 3-minute intervals between classes.
Some may wonder why Cresskill would want to shorten the school day. Cresskill has one of the longest school days in Bergen County, many schools have transitioned from the 7:40-3:00 schedule due to sports, but CHS hasn’t been able to make the transition due to various complexities such as the highschool sharing the same building as the middle school. Having both the highschool and middle school students coming in all at once at 8:15 would be a daunting task which led to highschool students having to come in 45 minutes earlier. Shrinking the schedule may seem like just a trend, but it comes with many benefits as well. The most obvious is potentially more time to allow students to sleep. A 10-minute morning delay may not seem significant at first, however, across 180 school days it leads to 1,800 minutes or 30 hours of additional sleep.
The shortened schedule could also aid student athletes. Student-athletes won’t need to skip as much class to catch buses going to faraway games. They are also able to get home earlier after practice. This is important as some student-athletes only get home at 6 pm which quickly turns into a 7 pm start for homework once you factor in transportation, eating a meal, and showering.
The real evidence of the benefits of the schedule comes from student responses to the new bell schedule. Juniors who arguably have the highest workload in the school had many strong opinions.
“I’m really pleased with the new bell schedule change. Starting the day ten minutes later may seem like a small change but it can make a significant difference for our morning routines. It gives students a little more time to prepare for the day and not have to rush through our mornings. Also ending the school day 15 minutes earlier means more time for sports practices and not having to end practice so late”. The change in the schedule not only helps many students morning routines but also their afternoons to finish any left over homework or studying they have to do for tests.
“(The) hallway change to three minutes is largely unfelt” claims junior Joonsub Shim. He supports this saying, “We usually have leftover time before the bell rings anyway” which seems to be a common sentiment. The shorter periods don’t even feel noticeable and it seems like the same quantity of material is being covered.
Fellow junior Seoyeon Lee also agrees stating that despite shorter periods, “we can still effectively learn everything.”
The new schedule not being noticed by students is a sign of its success. The shorter times have not seemed to impede student’s ability to learn at Cresskill High School. Of course, a two-day test period in June is not sufficient and more will have to be done. Cresskill High School will never know the true benefits and/or faults of the new schedule unless it is willing to commit and take risks. In all, the transition from having a traditional 7:40-3:00 schedule to a more compact 7:50-2:45 brings about many benefits regarding student life while also maintaining the necessary in class lecture time for teachers.
