For the 2016-2017 school year the Cedar Rapids Community School District is changing the school day schedule. The main changes include an added 20 minutes to the school day which allows for seven class periods, and early dismissal Fridays at 1:30.

Another transition in the schedule is aligning the first, second, sixth and seventh periods with Jefferson and Washington High School. In between those four periods will be lunch and some form of intervention time. This intervention time could be smart lunch or some other type of learning opportunity. 

“I don’t believe having an early dismissal every Friday will be very beneficial because I will be going to personal development meetings where we as teachers have been doing the same thing for the last six to seven years. The meetings are not useful and very boring,” Craig Mallicoat, teacher said.

The district has proposed many schedule changes before they decided the early dismissals on Fridays would be the best fit. First, the plan was to continue releasing students early on Wednesdays. Then that plan was adjusted and a new idea arose for having a late start every Monday morning.

“Late starts on Mondays would be better for me as it would allow for me to get more sleep after the weekend,” Tessa Steffen, so., said.

Although some students don’t prefer the new schedule, other students are thrilled with the early dismissals on Friday.

“I think I’m really going to like the early outs on Fridays next year because after a whole week of school, it’s nice to have a break,” Noah Foege, jr., said.

While the teachers will be attending meetings, the students will be released at 1:30 p.m. and have an early start to their weekend.

“The early dismissal plan will be nice to get a head start on homework before the weekend and to hangout with friends,” Steffen said.

Other than the early dismissal changes, students will be going to school from 7:50 a.m. to 3 p.m. This school day will consist of seven periods instead of the previous six period day.

“The lengthening of the school day is quite modest. The start is a few minutes sooner and the extension of the day is pretty slight as well,” Mike Moran, Kennedy parent, said. “If it were up to me to decide the schedule, I believe students would learn better later in the day, my kids have not been early risers so I tend to think 9am would be the best time to begin a school day and things would finish up around 4pm.”

Seven classes will be preferable to some students and helpful with their sleep schedule.

“I like how early bird academic classes aren’t an option anymore because I can fill up my schedule without having to wake up earlier,” Steffen, said.

The new schedule changes will be quite a shift for some people and for others it will be to their benefit.