As the new school year looms, Highland High School is at the center of discussions about changes to its daily schedule. Proposed adjustments-including the elimination of advisory periods, a reduction in early release days, and the introduction of a new flex time block-are under review, sparking conversation among students, staff, and families.
“Nothing has been decided. It’s just simply a conversation that we’re having about still utilizing time, where students can access teachers outside of normal class time. We are having a conversation with the high school principals and district leadership about what something like a flex time could be, and if it would be beneficial to students,” highland principal Jeremy Chatterton said.” It has not been decided, it has not been a final answer. But the idea is that students would have more opportunity-or students and teachers would-to work with each other if they’re falling behind or if they need time for makeups or something like this, where it would be uninterrupted, they wouldn’t have concerns about busing, transportation, students having to miss for practices or anything like that. Being able to have a set time throughout the day or throughout the week, where students and teachers can work together.”
Chatterton confirmed that the advisory period, a 40-minute-long class held on Thursdays mainly being used as a study hall by students who decide to attend, will not return to its current form.
“Advisory is gone next year. There’s been different conversations kind of thrown out. And other schools do this now currently, for example, Skyline does it two days at midterms and two days at the end of term each term. Olympus does it every day, but they do it during lunch, so it’s kind of added on to their lunchtime,” Chatterton said. “What we’ve discussed is doing it at the end of the day, since we have since we’re kind of in school longer. Hopefully we can avoid other student conflicts. And then if students need to check out for an event or for a performance, they wouldn’t be missing more school. And we’ve talked about doing it like on Tuesdays because that seems to be the day most teams are checking out for activities.”
Some students have voiced their interest in this new proposed schedule.
“I think replacing advisory with the office hours to talk to teachers would be great, I think it would be a lot easier than just emailing my teachers,” said Miles Power.
Concerns have been raised about how these schedule adjustments will affect the timing of classes, especially when it comes to things like transportation for those who travel to the CTE Center for specialized courses on the bus.
“I think the negatives are obviously the day or days that we have this with each class would be 10 minutes shorter. Over the course of a year, it impact is about seven hours. It adds up. I know CTE classes are very concerned about it, especially traveling to the CTE Center. It really limits how long those classes are and whether they’re able to get the time allotted that they need,” said Chatterton.
This new schedule would also mean the end of short-day Fridays.
“Early release days are going to be cut next year. We don’t know what the final decision is. So, no, as of now, no short days, or if we do have short days, it’s going to be not as often,” said Chatterton.
He emphasized that much of the decision-making power now rests with district leadership, following recent changes in state law.
“A lot has changed just from the legislature in the past. This past session. So, for example, like, shared governance and the teachers kind of having a say and what the schedule and school date looks like has gone away. So now it’s just the district that decides what it’s going to be. And they did it for all schools. And so, we’re waiting on them right now to make decisions. District leadership, to make decisions on what that looks like,” said Chatterton.
Despite the uncertainty, this multipurpose time can come with many benefits, especially for student clubs and organizations.
“I think the pros is that if it’s a time that that teachers and students could really utilize well, I think it can be very helpful and productive. We’re also discussing, like, does this make sense to be able to have club meetings during this time. And then that would help with students that maybe want to be part of a club but can’t because of busing. So, could we move those meetings during this time? And then more students could be part of them or other different clubs and groups that we have,” said Chatterton.
As the district finalizes its plans, Highland High School remains committed to balancing academic needs, extracurricular opportunities, and the well-being of its student body. The final schedule is expected to be announced before the start of the 2025-26 school year.
