ARHS administration has updated the bell schedule, which will be implemented in the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.

The new schedule will eliminate Titan Mondays and long blocks, and the periods will progress in reverse order. The Titan Mondays will still be used occasionally, during the first day of school for example. Each class period will be extended five to 10 minutes to account for the removal of the long block, so each day can continue to drop a class period.

“It really takes a few things out of our current schedule and simplifies them,” Bevan said.

In the three years since COVID, the bell schedules have required adjustments year to year. Bevan hopes that the newly updated schedule will be more permanent than previous variations. 

“Changing a school schedule during any school year is a major undertaking,” Bevan said. “There are schools that get into this pattern of revising their bell schedule in perpetuity, and that’s something I prefer to avoid.”

The reverse order of the periods, known as a “volcano rotation,” is another aspect of the schedule that was adjusted. For example, on Tuesdays, the schedule drops A period, which is then added as the last period on Wednesday. This is opposed to the dropped period becoming the first period of the next day, as it is in the current schedule.

The decision-making process for the new schedule involved both students and staff in multiple meetings throughout the year. Chemistry teacher Aimee Selby felt that the meetings were productive and collaborative.

“People got to talk a little bit about their perspective, and then we all sort of came up with ideas for how to fix it or how to work around it,” Selby said. “[The meetings were] good because it gave a good, positive spin, and it wasn’t just like a complaining session, but then everyone sort of felt like they got their voices heard and were part of the decision making process, which I thought was important.”

Another component in creating the new schedule was feedback from students and teachers. In a survey of 757 students conducted in December 2022 by ARHS administration, 66.6% of students said they would be either pleased or very pleased if next year’s schedule removed Titan Mondays, which is reflected in the updated schedule. Additionally, many teachers found difficulties with the long block. 

“People still thought they wanted the long block, particularly [the science department], we thought we wanted it for labs, but then it didn’t work out so well because it’s so far in between when you see each class [for a long block, due to the rotating schedule],” Selby said.

Next year, administration will continue to collect data from the community in regards to the schedule. The faculty are looking forward to seeing how students adjust to the changes.

“We’ve learned in teaching, especially with the last few years, that flexibility is key,” Selby said. “I’m just going to jump into [the new schedule] and do the best I can, and hopefully it’ll be awesome.”