By Grahm Reynolds and Sushant Kunwar
Last week BHS started off its 2021/2022 school year with the first day of school. Differing from last year, this year sees all students in the building, with no virtual learning. This is a new step in the long journey of the Branford Public Schools community to reach normalcy beyond the pandemic.
With the new year, there have been some changes to school, such as a new scheduling model and the introduction of Hive Time; however there are also some remnants of the Hybrid Model, such as seating restrictions in the cafeteria (instead of 3 students per table, there are now 6.) The opinions on these changes vary among Administrators, Teachers, and Students.
“With the daily schedule, we’re implementing a blended block schedule,”says Principal Lee Panagoulias. “This means Mondays will have all 8 periods and there will be block schedules from Tuesday to Friday with extended learning periods.”
Panagoulias also added that Hive Time–which runs from 8:58 to 9:28–will happen Tuesdays through Fridays, and include activities such as the HiveLiveStream, Wellness, Choice Activities, and Community. If students have any questions about Hive Time, Panagoulis indicated that they should reach out to Mrs. Tucker or Mrs. O’brien.
The blended block schedule which Panagoulias touched upon has been met with various opinions. “I don’t have any preferences with the schedules; on block days, classes feel long, but on days with all eight periods, it feels too short,” said senior Kevin Lee.
On block days, periods are 83 minutes. This seems daunting to many.
“83 minutes seems like a very long time if you’re not used to it,” said Mr. Matthiessen.
Despite classes feeling to be too long to some, 83 minute periods have their benefits. “It works well for multi-step projects and activities. You can actually start and finish something in one period instead of breaking it up over a couple of days,” said Matthiessen. With more time in periods, it is simply easier to accomplish things in one period.
But as Lee brought up, Mondays can feel too short, as they have all 8 periods and each period is shorter. Yet Matthiessen sees Mondays positively. “I think it will be a good way to start the week, checking in with every class period and seeing where everyone is on the assignments and reviewing what we did the week before. The variety will be welcome, especially now, when everyone is trying to adjust to those 83-minute periods the other days,” said Matthiessen.
Covid still has an effect on this school year. Masks are still being worn, contact tracing is still being managed, and quarantine measures are still in place. Yet with no one-way hallways, 6 people per lunch table, and a fully packed school, things are returning to normal.
“I like that we’re able to ease up on some regulations now. Being able to walk any direction in the halls makes it easier to get to classes. I still see masks as a necessity,” said Lee.
In addition to changes to covid regulations, class is now back to what it was before covid, yet some things are staying the same. “I’m still minimizing paper use, both for the environment and because of Covid. To be honest, I am not a very organized person, so paper has always been my enemy, and keeping things organized in Google Classroom is easier for me than carrying around a bundle of papers to grade,” said Matthiessen.
BHS is moving forward into new territory; the need to find a happy medium between covid safety and normalcy is challenging to meet, yet BHS has specific goals in mind in order to do so. “Three things we need to focus on are, high level instruction, a high set of expectations, and a high level of support,” said Panagoulias. “Our admin leadership team wants to make sure they’re supporting teachers and staff to accomplish goals so they can support students.”
The year has just begun, and there are still many challenges to overcome. However, BHS remains optimistic and excited for the new school year.
