By Penelope Day
While the start of a new school year may always be filled with adjustments and changes, this year, the Murrow community has more than the usual share of changes to get used to. Starting on September 8th, the first day of school, Murrow students and staff have had to come to terms with a new version of the Band Aid schedule, in addition to a host of new school systems and rules regarding free periods.
Under the new school schedule, A band (or first period) begins at 7:45, in contrast to last year’s 8:05 start. Additionally, every class meets every day under the new Band Aid, as opposed to four days a week for longer bands last year, with bands on Friday being shorter to accommodate a teacher meeting at the end of each Friday. Many students have also had to adjust to not attending school for the whole day, as the new Band Aid structure places most Murrowites in classes either from A to H band, or B to J band.
For students like junior Ava Puccio, the new school schedule has particularly come with a variety of emotions.
“I have very partial feelings since I now have to wake up at 5:30 which is not enjoyable, and I do not have a lunch break, meaning I just eat in class for the most part.,” Puccio said. “On the flip side of this, I now get out at 2:11 and 1:00 on Fridays which is really nice, and gives me more time to do my work and see friends.”
Sophomore Anika Maimuna has had similar feelings about the new Band Aid.
“It can get overwhelming when you have so much homework from all your classes and might have multiple tests to study for,” Maimuna wrote in an email. “Having classes meet 4 times a week last year was perfect since you got a day to catch up on the work for the class that’s not meeting that day. On the other hand, I do like the short Fridays since it’s a delightful way to enter the weekends.”
The new Band Aid, shown above, is very different from last year’s student schedule.
Shorter bands have been an adjustment for teachers, too, who have had to get used to planning more concise lessons that can fit into the new 48 – minute bands, and having no days off from a particular class with which to plan lessons.
“The key is that we all have fewer OPTAs, and less time to grade and get prepared. So that is affecting classwork and grading,” English teacher Mr. Joseph Elliot said.
Principal Mr. Allen Barge, who also teaches History, has expressed having difficulty planning most predominantly on Fridays, when each band is only 40 minutes.
“It’s certainly an adjustment having a 40 minute period [on Fridays],” Mr. Barge said. “I will say having been in this building with many different variations of the Band Aid, which included 40 minute bands going way back, I guess I had some exposure to it. But it definitely is an adjustment because the difference between a typical band Monday through Thursday and the short band on Friday is going to require some adjustment from the teacher’s perspective, in terms of planning.”
Students have also had to adjust to new school guidelines regarding lunch periods and free periods (also known as OPTAs). In particular, the Murrow administration has assigned every student to either the first floor cafeteria or the new 285 cafeteria for lunch periods, a move that was made to prevent overcrowding and ensure students don’t loiter in the hallways during their breaks.
Ms. Tamar Sinclair, the new Assistant Principal of security, said that she hoped this move would make sure every student had a space to be during their time off.
“I think we had a lot of changes last year and we wanted to be respectful to students as we returned to this mini city,” Ms. Sinclair said. “And I think students are a little less anxious now, but we learned our lesson from last year that we wanted to have those spaces for students during their OPTAs.”
Mr. Barge said that he supported the assigned lunchrooms because they ensure OPTA spaces don’t get overcrowded and allow staff to locate students on OPTA more easily.
“We established the two cafeterias so that we made sure it wasn’t nearly as crowded, and that no student would have to go a day without getting a break or getting to eat,” Mr. Barge said. “But we also wanted to make sure, and this is very important, that in the event of a situation where we would need to know where a student is, we now know that. It used to be, the way that OPTAs were set up, that if we needed to locate a student during their OPTA, we had no idea where they were.”
Under the assigned cafeteria structure, Murrow students on OPTA can get passes from their designated lunchroom to go to the library or tutoring. Mr. Barge said that he liked that the library could become a more peaceful place as a result of this pass system.
“One of our goals was to make the library truly a library,” Mr. Barge said, “Prior to this year, the library was just an OPTA space where we were just putting students in. Now, it’s truly a library where students are going, taking out books, and sitting in quiet places. It’s not a place where we just throw in 150 or 200 kids because there’s no other place for them to go.”
Ms. Sinclair endorsed this reasoning, explaining that passes for the library have been limited in order to keep it a relaxing space for students to study or read.
“We’ve been mindful of the number of [library] passes that we’re giving out, because we’re still trying to be mindful about letting the space be what the space is for,” Ms. Sinclair said.
Despite these good reasons to assign students to cafeterias though, many have been upset over the change. Maimuna, who connects with the student body as the Sophomore Senator of Student Alliance, said that she thinks the policy could place some restrictions on students.
“I don’t like the new regulations on designated lunch locations since someone might get anxiety being in a certain environment, so I believe we should be able to choose where we want to eat,” Maimuna said. “Some people might also have the same lunch band as their friends but are appointed in different rooms.”
Ms. Sinclair acknowledged the difficulties associated with inadvertent social conflicts between friends with the new assigned cafeteria system.
“It would be great for people to be able to eat lunch with their friends every day, but it just doesn’t work like that,” she said.
Another motive behind assigning cafeterias was to try to keep students out of the hallways, which had been a considerable problem for the administration last year. Students in the hallways now need to be carrying a pass, and deans are stationed on different floors to urge students to get to class. Students found wandering the halls during a band are sent to the ‘SAVE’ room, where deans will check their program and help escort them to class.
Ms. Sinclair said that the goal of this is primarily to prevent chronic truancy and to make sure that students are not missing instructional time.
“The point of the room is that our first goal is to get students to class,” Ms. Sinclair said. “So if students are found in the hallway in the first 12-15 minutes of the band, we’ll bring them in and try to figure out ‘is this a one time thing or is this a bigger pattern in behavior?’”
Teachers have also been given stricter instructions about bathroom passes, which were placed in rooms last year. Now, the school administration has tried to create the norm that only one student from each classroom should be out in the bathroom at a time. Some teachers, like Mr. Elliot, have found this difficult to enforce.
“I think expecting one person out from a classroom at a time is a little unrealistic, especially during the middle bands, when people are just coming back from lunch,” Mr. Elliot said.
Meanwhile, students like Puccio have found it stressful to be under constant supervision in the hallways. The junior recounted that she’s had negative encounters with the deans in the hallway even with permission to leave class.
“I had one bad encounter with some deans last week,” Puccio said. “Since I do not have lunch, I normally eat lunch in AP Capstone, since it is a very independent class, but this time I forgot a fork for my lunch so the substitute let me go down to the cafeteria with a note to get one. The teachers at the front of the cafeteria were really nice and understanding, and let me run in and get a fork. As soon as I reached the third floor, without my pass since the people at the cafeteria took it, around five deans just very aggressively questioned me about where I was going.”
Puccio added that this experience was stressful since it made her feel like the school has no trust in her and her classmates.
“I was just really upset about the way that they now treat kids simply walking in the halls,” she added. “It feels like they are assuming that everyone had just committed a terrible crime by walking in the hallway, without even asking why the kids were there in the first place. I had been having a really terrible day that day, and this definitely did not help. This new system just feels as if they do not trust any student about quite literally walking, and definitely don’t take into consideration how aggressive they are about putting these new measures into place.”
Maimuna also said that the system has led some students, in her observation, to think of school more negatively, and that this has been one of Student Alliance’s main concerns to bring to the administration.
“Now there’s hallway monitor’s observing us every second which can cause disturbance for some people and gives a sense of school as ‘jail,’” Maimuna said. “We [Student Alliance] meet with Mr. Barge once a month and have a conference to advocate for the students of Murrow and changes there should be to improve not only our school but also the community we have, where students can feel safe and comfortable.”
Even with these student concerns though, Mr. Barge and Ms. Sinclair have felt that the hallway rules, assigned cafeterias, and new schedule have been primarily successful.
Ms. Sinclair said that she feels many students have been accepting of schoolwide changes.
“I would say probably like 90 percent of the students who have been here have been receptive,” she said. “I also do appreciate the students being patient with us as we try to figure out some things that haven’t been figured out about the guidelines for classes.”
Mr. Barge also emphasized that he’s appreciated seeing his students every day, as opposed to the model in the old Band Aid where every class would only meet four times a week.
“I personally have enjoyed seeing my students five days a week,” Mr. Barge said. “I feel like we’ve had a lot more time to make better connections.”
Students and staff haven’t been too opposed to the changes either. For Mr. Elliot, the new schedule has been a pretty neutral change.
“I don’t find it too difficult to teach a 40-minute class,” Mr. Elliot said.
Puccio included that she’s liked having shorter classes and class every day, since it makes it easier for her to stay consistent with the material.
“I do like having class every day, since I feel as if the shorter bands without a break allow me to recall the lessons in class easier than if I were to have a day break in the schedule from each class,” she said.
Mr. Barge additionally commented that many students have still seemed happy at Murrow, despite some of the more controversial changes.
“There was thankfully a great vibe from the students and staff coming into the school year,” he said.
The Murrow Network 