The Schedule Situation: Students protest next year’s schedule change through democratically driven methods

“Dear Students and Parents,” read the familiar words of past pandemic emails displayed across the top of the screen, foreshadowing an announcement to come. 

     “We have reached a decision regarding the schedule for next year,” the email continued. Students across the district held their breath in anticipation. “After much discussion, we will go to a modified 7-period schedule at both high schools for the 2021-2022 school year.”

  Junior Sachi Wrigley sat at the dinner table, eating with their family when their mom brought up the topic of the newly created schedule. Wrigley hadn’t heard about it until that moment. The unexpected dinnertime news and the lack of communication before the announcement disoriented Wrigley and many others in the same situation. Why was this happening now, of all times? 

     “I lost half of my high school career to the pandemic,” Wrigley said, “and with this new schedule having seven periods, I don’t get to do the fun stuff I missed out on this year.”

      Wrigley wrote a petition, which has been signed by 1,158 students and parents as of May 31st. Wrigley also wrote an email explaining the arguments for returning to a pre-pandemic schedule. Wrigley hopes to show the district administration and the school board how much student voices truly matter. 

     Wrigley started the petition after Spanish class on Monday, May 24th, noticing the general consensus was that students were unhappy with the changes. Students across the hall of their AP Composition class, where Wrigley brought up the petition once again, overheard talk of the petition and looked it up to find and sign it online.

   “It’s really important that we do this professionally,” Wrigley said. “We don’t want to come off as emotional and irrational and cause an unnecessary panic or uproar.”

     Sophomore Caroline Gao has taken the lead on a project with a similar goal, including Wrigley’s petition in a survey she created asking for student input on the schedule and what they would do differently. Gao hopes the commentary of students will help to convince the district to revert to a pre-pandemic class schedule. 

     “When we take away classes, even just one, for students that means one less opportunity and one less chance to pursue something new and explore their possibilities,” Gao said. “Electives are an important way that students can discover their real interest and create community, and with one less elective available, it means one less chance to create that community and passion.”

      Gao hopes her efforts will not go unnoticed by the school board, as they have collaborated on projects with her in the past and understand her dedication to helping her peers gain more opportunities. Her ideas extend beyond just collecting input from students, though. She plans to create a joint statement between members of West Albany’s student council that she can send to the school board on behalf of the student body. 

     Ultimately wanting to create a schedule that everyone is happy with, Gao believes that student and teacher collaboration on deciding the schedule is necessary. After a year that took away so many opportunities and perpetuated inequality in the district, Gao wants the school board to regard stability as one of the main factors when considering schedule options. 

     “We’ve already lost a year of opportunity to the pandemic. During the pandemic, we saw the effects of forced drastic change. It was necessary for public safety, but the change created inequity and a drop in educational quality for everyone,” Gao said, “I think if we go back to what we had before, that feels safe to us, and we need to feel safe. We need to feel that certainty and stability from school. We need a schedule that feels like home to us.”

     Gao has advertised her form on Instagram and continues to ask students of the GAPS district to include their thoughts and feelings in the survey. 

     The efforts of the students have not gone unnoticed. West Albany school guidance counselor Jan Rasmussen sees the way that students have come together for a common objective and encourages the display of democracy. 

     “I hope students continue to use their voice and use those channels that are out there,” Rasmussen said. “That’s Democracy, right? Sharing your voice. With a thousand signatures, it’s obviously not just one person, so I think it’s a great avenue for students, and I hope they don’t stop, they keep using their voice, and they keep expressing their desires. Ultimately, it’s about the students. We’re here for you, and we want to give you opportunities.”

    Four days after the initial announcement of the schedule change, students and parents received another email from the district explaining the change further.

      The email answered questions like, “Why do the schools need to be on the same schedule?”, “What does this mean for me?” and “What is going to change for me?”

  The email emphasized that with West and South on the same schedule, the classes at the two schools would be available to both student bodies and create more opportunities and class options for students.

     “At the very first meeting of the CTE Advisory Committee the question was asked, ‘Why aren’t high schools on the same schedule?’” the email read. “Greater Albany Public Schools has been focusing for many years on bringing our two comprehensive high schools on the same schedule.  This approach has many advantages, some of which were realized when they shared schedules during the pandemic.”

      The given benefits of the new schedule included seeing all of your teachers on a daily basis, more student opportunities in regards to class options, flexibility around nutrition breaks and bus schedules, shorter class periods promoting more engagement, and avoidance of scheduling changes due to holidays and other non-school days. 

      Junior Misaki Yonemura can understand why the district would want to promote equality in-class options, but they don’t understand the board’s choice to make this specific schedule change now, without warning and without student input. 

     “I am neurodivergent myself,” Yonemura expressed, “and I do feel like having an odd routine and switching from having seven periods blocked to seven periods in a day in the middle of the week is not good stability for students that need that routine.”

      Yonemura also feels as though the new schedule will disrupt the music classes significantly, as the pre-pandemic hour and a half was just enough time for the West Albany band to get their practice in. 

     “Music is something that I consider to be a huge part of my life,” Yonemura said, “but doing it every day can be very tiring. I prefer the block schedule where I could focus on my music classes every other day and have a resting period in between to focus on other classes.”

     Gao agrees with this sentiment, advocating for a pre-pandemic schedule while also understanding the want for more class opportunities in both schools. 

     “I understand wanting to have both schools on the same schedule and create equal access to the facilities,” Gao said, “ but you have to consider how many students will benefit from that compared to the total number of students that are going to be changing their entire schedule to accommodate what I predict will be a rather small percentage of students that will be willing to go to another school in the middle of the day and potentially miss parts of other classes.”                                    

     Though the most recent board meeting was almost entirely closed session, the next regular school board meeting on the evening of June 7 will include public comment, of which there are likely to be many regarding this schedule change.

The Whirlwind has requested comments from Superintendent Melissa Goff and Principal Susie Orsborn, and we will continue to update this story as it evolves… Additional information or letters to the editor can be submitted to [email protected]. 

Edits: This article has been edited to say that it was across from Junior Sachi Wrigley’s AP Composition class, and not their Spanish class, that students looked up the petition to sign it.