The administration announced its decision earlier this week to keep the block schedule for the 2021-2022 academic year instead of reverting back to the pre-pandemic seven-period schedule. The announcement has evoked mixed responses from students and faculty, who have expressed a wide range of opinions regarding the schedules. 

According to Principal Ian Gibbons, S.J., the decision was made to keep the block schedule for mainly Covid safety reasons. A Pandemic Response Team that the administration put together last March will remain active through next school year to monitor the remaining Covid risks at SLUH. 

“It's one of those things that at some point we're going to look back and realize that this is no longer a thing,” said Gibbons. “It just kind of quietly goes away and that's the story of pandemics, there's not a hard end to something like that.”

While the block schedule has had its imperfections, it has proved to be the most effective way to go about education at SLUH during the pandemic. 

“The primary thing we were looking at is what is safe to keep us open, and will we be able to positively affect instruction,” said Gibbons “It’s not perfect but it’s the one that's going to be able to get us to the final point to the pandemic.”

The block schedule has been the best choice for the pandemic for multiple reasons. For one, fewer classes a day means less movement around the building. If a student receives a positive Covid case, they will have had less contact throughout the day if they attended four classes as opposed to seven. The administration’s primary goal has been to keep the number of quarantines to a minimum. 

While the pandemic seems to be rapidly fading as many in the SLUH community and beyond get vaccinated, these precautions will be necessary until herd immunity is reached. Additionally, a significant portion of the student body is still younger than 16, and so can’t be vaccinated yet.s 

For all these reasons, the administration decided maintaining the block schedule was the best choice for next school year. The bigger decision point, according to Gibbons, will be for the 2022-2023 school year. 

“Things like graduation requirements, grading and assessment, and our school schedule, those are significant priorities, and are going to be really jumped upon next year in preparation for post-pandemic,” said Gibbons. 

To assess these areas of SLUH Academics that could potentially be adjusted after the pandemic, the administration assembled the Strategic Summit Team. The team will focus on scheduling and academic development while the Pandemic Response Team continues to address the priorities of the pandemic. 

“We want to not be a school where the pandemic ends and we look around and say, now what, what are we going to do?” said Gibbons “We also don't want to be a school that just tries to do everything.”

While the decision to keep the block schedule was mainly for Covid reasons, many members of the SLUH faculty have differing opinions on the schedule. 

“I find that it makes for, overall, a healthier environment especially for students,” said AP Spanish teacher Magdalena Alvarado. “You know, we have a lot of craziness in our life and, I guess, any chance we get to slow down is good.” 

Alvarado added that she was only able to cover three of the six AP themes this year. However, this was in part due to the hybrid schedule in the first semester, which will not be returning next year.

“I think we’ll get a far better sense next year of what we like and don't like about the block schedule than we do this year,” said social studies teacher Tim O’Neil. “This year was strictly for pandemic reasons; next year, we’re forecasting that we will look at a more normal school year with block scheduling.”

Many teachers agree that a pandemic year does not offer a fair assessment of how the block schedule works at SLUH. 

“I feel that I can operate effectively out of any schedule,” said math teacher Donald Steingruby. “The hard part is that there seem to be more gaps of time where you don’t get to check in with your students. Math is something that 's nice when you can reinforce it daily, and it kind of becomes a challenge to do that in a block.”

Students, as well, have varying opinions about the block schedule. 

“The block schedule is good because you have less work out of school and more time to do it,” said sophomore David Hunt. 

“I have really appreciated the block schedule this year because it has allowed me to do a lot of extracurricular activities and still manage my homework,” said junior Nathan Rich. 

While some students have seen significant benefits to the block schedule, others have found it to be less beneficial to their academic lives. 

“It makes people less productive,” said sophomore Eric Pudlo, citing the tendency of students to procrastinate with more time to do their assignments.

“The block is too clunky and too confusing,” said sophomore Mark Faulkner.