by Violet Browne, block schedule bemoaner | April 29, 2020
Thanks to Saint Francis’s block schedule, classes meet every other day, providing students with a flexible schedule that helps them develop good time-management skills for college and beyond. Gold (G) days also allow collaboration time for students to sleep in, ask teachers for help, or catch up on homework. Currently, the days are named for the colors the school uses: brown, gold, and white (along with activity days, which are a modified version of the gold day schedule). “Is it a Brown day or a Gold day?” and “Is it a B1 or a B2?” are common questions heard on campus. The school has finally capitulated to the most important student request regarding our schedule. Tired of a certain chant that rhymed our colors of “yellow and brown,” our school’s administrators have decided to liberate the schedule from being constrained by our school colors.
Rather than restricting the name of each “day” to the school colors, the new schedule will include a colors inspired by the Crayola sixty-four pack of crayons. For instance, April 2 will be a Burnt Umber day, April 3 will be a Carnation Pink day, and April 4 will be a Yellow Orange day. Each day will differ slightly.
Several faculty members were especially involved in the design and approval of the revised schedule. “I’m really excited to have three to four minutes of extra teaching time every day. It would make a real difference in my curriculum,” said one English teacher. “I keep having to say, ‘The bell doesn’t dismiss you, I do.’ Now, I finally get that time back!”
Naturally, the new color-coded schedule cycles through the colors only a few times each school year, adding a touch of variety to each day. For instance, every Carnation Pink day has a shortened lunch period by three minutes; however, this is made up by a later start to the school day by the same amount of time. Every Gray day, school begins at 8:04 a.m. and concludes at 2:36 p.m. Studies show that altering a school’s schedule each day increases attention span and energy levels. One student told us, “The elevated fear levels from thinking I’ve mixed up a Razzmatazz day with a Robin Egg Blue day will really improve my reflexes and memory.”
“Is it a red, red orange, orange, yellow orange, yellow, yellow green, green, blue green, or blue day?” will now be the Saint Francis rallying cry. Good luck to all students with the new schedule!
