Libra Makes Controversial Changes

By Daniel Santos

Many students are complaining about the new schedule changes at Libra which include an exclusion of break and changing advisory to the morning. These changes seem to be affecting the upperclassmen more than anything due to the fact that they have embarked on a stressful year, and the new schedule is adding to their problems.

Although it was only five minutes, the break served as a moment to eat a snack or to simply relax and wait for the next class. Now students have four continuous classes and then lunch. About halfway through the third class, students begin to complain about their hunger but still have to wait an hour or more before being able to consume something. When asked about the break exclusion, Ms. Davis said, “It was too short and students didn’t have time to do anything.”

The other change in the schedule, which is that advisory is no longer at the end of the day, can be beneficial. It can benefit students who are struggling with an AP class as they can use the 45 minutes in the morning to ask for help while they are more alert and focused. The students who aren’t struggling with any AP class can use the time to catch up on anything assigned to them.

On the the other hand it can be an issue to student athletes who have to leave early from their last classes. Last year, students would leave halfway through their last block and miss advisory, intervention, or enrichment. Now students will have to miss their last two classes. This issue can hurt student athletes that can have up to three games a week. These students will have to work hard during their season to maintain their grades and not fall behind.

In support of this change, Ms. Davis said, “Students are more awake in the morning and if they need intervention it’s better for them to get it at this time.” She also explained how the five minutes of break were added to enrichment and that the time in enrichment is needed for the new system of BIC (breakfast in class) which began on September 24th.

When asked about the schedule changes, Governing Board member and Junior, Alexis Pulido, stated, “I feel that the decision to change enrichment and intervention to the morning helps students more in classes they’re struggling with. This year it actually feels like a class, and I think students will take advantage of the extra help.” In regards to the break exclusion, he expressed that it was a bad decision to remove it as students will become hungry and lose focus in class.

Senior, Luis Briseno, said, “Personally, I feel that the new schedule hasn’t really made a drastic impact on my education as other students say. I had trouble adjusting to the new schedule the first few days but it took me about a week to get comfortable with the new schedule.”

He also spoke about the how the schedule has changed since his time as a freshman, he said, “The schedule went from less blocks and more minutes per block to more blocks but less minutes per block. I would really hope for Libra to stick to this current schedule because I find it effective for most of the students, especially the ones that get extra help in intervention.” He also emphasized how he wishes that Libra would adopt one schedule and keep it rather than changing it yearly.

#features