Students Join Committee Exploring Potential Schedule Changes

Oftentimes, important progress can be made through collaborative work. Over the last several months, two EHS students—Yale Chengye Xu and Eva Muzichenko—have been a part of one such substantial undertaking, as the two juniors have served alongside faculty members and administrators on a committee tasked with exploring potential changes to the secondary school schedule. 

Since its first meeting in November, the committee has spoken with representatives from other school districts about their own schedule construction and solicited feedback from various stakeholder groups, including parents, students and staff members, to learn more about how potential shift in scheduling might be used to maximize instruction time. 

The group reported their early findings to the Board of Education at Tuesday night’s Work Session meeting, sharing polling data and information about how different schedule alternatives may impact staff experience, student learning and community needs while developing recommendations for potential future scheduling models. 

Although discussions about the schedule are still ongoing, several of the committee’s suggestions were well-received, including the adoption of an early-morning extra-help period for students. 

But beyond the implementation of new scheduling ideas, the committee has been something of an eye-opener for the EHS students involved, allowing the youngsters to take a bigger role in the process and offering the district valuable insight into the hopes and concerns of those who would be most affected by potential scheduling changes.

Muzichenko and Xu were approached about serving on the committee by EHS chemistry teacher Jean Ahern-Kenny—who also serves as the EGO advisor. Ahern-Kenny explained that the experience would be a valuable one for the duo, noting that the ability to advocate for oneself in a group setting is an important skill for youngsters to hone.

"We want students to be able to express their opinions and concerns but also to be able to back up those opinions," said Ahern-Kenny. "In asking students to join the committee, I was thinking of kids [like Yale and Eva] who take advantage of everything the school has to offer."

Muzichenko said the experience has been a tremendous learning experience thus far. 

“There were options for for all these different committees that we could be a part of; the scheduling committee, there was an assessment committee and one centered around wellness,” said Muzichenko. “We wanted to focus on scheduling because it’s something that is going to impact our lives over the next few years.”

Both Xu and Muzichenko said that their time working alongside their teachers and administrators offered insight into how school districts are run and how the collaborative process can inspire new ideas.

“While interacting with students from other schools, they would mention different types of scheduling that their schools used, like block scheduling and drop scheduling,” said Xu. “We talked about some of the advantages and disadvantages and thought about what we could change to reflect some of the things other school districts are doing.”

505 EHS students in grades 9-11 (accounting for 72.2% of enrolled students in those grades) responded to an online survey to weigh in on options like block scheduling and additional extra-help time, something Muzichenko said has given her a better-defined sense of the educational innovations that are important to the larger EHS community.

“I didn’t know what teachers have to deal with on their side of it, stuff like limited classrooms and not being able to assign all the things they want to because of a lack of time, because as a student, you’re usually just thinking about the work you have to do to get through a class,” she said. “And through the surveys, we got to see everyone’s different views on scheduling and have friendly debates about different aspects of the schedule.

“The morning extra-help periods that we have been discussing seem to be a point that most people agree on, but there were still a lot of discussion about other types of scheduling,” she added.

EHS Principal Chris Welsh noted that although there is still more work to be done, the committee’s early progress has been exciting to see, especially given the importance of student input.

“It’s a committee that has undertaken the work with the collaborative spirit of inquiry,” said Welsh. “The committee has expressed diverse opinions which has allowed us to consider multiple perspectives while keeping students at the center of everything that we do.”