By Olivia Svoboda

Editor-in-Chief

The idea of change is a hot topic for many people. Some might get bored of the same old, while others might benefit from the repetition. It’s a difficult concept to argue because there’s no correct solution or objective answer.

The same goes for Blue Springs South’s 2022-2023 daily schedule. South has gone through quite a few schedule changes in the past few years, due to the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent fall. Now, South’s administration is trying to bring the school’s schedule back to normal.

On an average week, South has its regular schedule on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and it has its Jag hour schedule on Wednesday and Thursday. The regular schedule has 50-minute class periods, while the Jag hour schedule has 43-minute class periods, along with a 49-minute Jag period.

Ryan Gettings, South’s principal, described the process of deciding the new schedule.

“In the spring of last year, we brought a group together of teachers to take a look at the schedule and how we do things. And through the course of meetings, we came up with a couple of different models, and the model that we’re using right now is what ultimately was voted on as where we wanted to move forward with the schedule,” Gettings said.

A major factor for this new model was longer class periods. Many teachers around the building, and especially those who teach core classes, struggled to keep up with the curriculum in 42-minute class periods.

“It doesn’t seem like much, but you’d be talking about going from 42 minutes to 50 minutes in a class period. That’s eight minutes a day, over a period of weeks and then you take that and scale that out. That’s quite a bit of time back,” Gettings said.

Some teachers agree that the extra time given to class periods on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays has been effective. Science teacher Geri Norman is one such teacher.

“I feel like I’m able to cover more because we have longer class periods those three days. I felt like last year I couldn’t get through as much because class periods were shorter,” Norman said.

Other teachers, like English teacher Stacey Raouf, feel that the extra minutes are misplaced.

“Whenever we have a Jag hour day our schedule is a little bit shorter, so I have to take that into consideration whenever I’m lesson planning. But with everything else, it doesn’t really seem like it’s that much of a difference,” Raouf said, “Honestly, my opinion would be I feel like students need more passing period time than anything.”

In order to fit in those longer class periods, administration had to cut daily Jag hours out of the schedule. This year, Jag hour is only on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but it’s also longer.

“I like having Jag hour long enough to actually have time to make up tests, make up labs,” Norman said, “There’s more time to accomplish a lot of times what we need to in Jag hour.”

Senior Avery Albin thinks that the schedule has a nice balance.

“We have more time in classes and then a longer jag hour,” Albin said.

There are also students like sophomore Arielle Jackson that think last year’s Jag hour was more convenient.

“I just feel like the schedule we had last year fit better for people,” Jackson said, “We had Jag hour every day, so if you needed to go somewhere every day … you don’t only have two days to do that.”

Traveling during Jag hour becomes even more difficult when you take the Thrive program into account. Though it’s not a year-long program, it still takes up a greater portion of the first semester. Jag hour teachers give lessons every Wednesday, which cuts weekly travel time in half.

Sophomore Kyla Duong thinks the Thrive program is a good idea, but its execution is off.

“I don’t really like the Thrive and compassion stuff that we have to do because sometimes it wastes our time, and I feel like some teachers put more effort into it while others don’t,” Duong said.

Junior Melaina Richards also likes the concept of the Thrive program but feels as if the lessons are lost on her.

“I don’t know if I’m particularly benefiting from it, but I think that it’s fine,” Richards said.

Other students like senior Olivia Studdard are not bothered by the time taken by the program and like its message.

“I think it’s good that the school is making a goal for everyone and that it’s so positive and based on community,” Studdard said.

Gettings explained how the administration came up with the Thrive program.

“We talk about these core values, of people first, growth, compassion, empathy, respect. And I feel like we really don’t ever do anything with them. They’re just words that are kind of floating out there that you may hear from time to time. So, it seems to me if these are going to be guiding values that we share as a school, then we should probably know a little bit more about them and we should try to think about how they really apply to our daily lives as we come to Blue Springs South, not just students, but for all of us,” Gettings said.

He also spoke about how the administration is participating in the program as well.

“We’re asking you guys to set goals in each of these areas that we’re talking about this first semester. The administrative team is doing the same thing. We’re setting goals for people first and compassion,” Gettings said.

As of October, the Thrive program has been taught for over a month. Students have started to get used to the lessons, but Gettings wonders if the program is getting through to them and how to measure the effectiveness of the program.

“I think the other day I got on the PA because in the span of the last couple of days, I saw at least a student each day, just walking, no one around, piece of trash on the floor, picks up the trash, throws it in the trash can. Now, is that tied to thrive? I don’t know,” Gettings said, “No one can really know that, but I think if people are thinking about people first and thinking about their school in that way, then yeah, I think sometimes, you’re walking by and you see a piece of trash, maybe some of that is just like, ‘Okay, I know that’s the right thing to do, and I’m going to do that.’ I hope it impacts our culture as a school, both students and staff.”

Gettings also said that the administration plans to survey students and teachers about the schedule change and the Thrive program. Through schoolwide cooperation, administration might be able to create a schedule that is well-liked by every person at Blue Springs South. Or they might not.

“There’s no schedule that’s perfect, and there’s no schedule that’s going to please everybody,” Gettings said.