Rationale for new academic Schedule

August 7, 2020

Rationale for New Academic Schedule Fenwick BEST: Bringing Everyone Safely Together

The fundamental focus of our Return-to-School Plan, Fenwick BEST, is to have all of us back on campus—safely and together. We believe that education is an essential service, and we know that in-person learning is “best” for our students. We also know that the health, safety, and wellbeing of our students, families, faculty, and staff is absolutely essential. Our goals—keeping us safe and bringing us together—are not mutually exclusive. They are guiding principles.

To that end, we are adopting a new schedule for the 2020-21 Academic Year. We are excited to share this schedule with you. The new schedule is the result of months of work—long before the Coronavirus began—by a committed team of Fenwick faculty and staff. Our Schedule Team, under the direction of Ms. Marquez, met throughout the year to identify critical priorities for our daily/weekly schedule. These priorities needed to reflect our mission, our core values, and our critical priorities for teaching and learning. As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, we have revisited and revised this proposed schedule many times, continually reflecting on providing the very best educational experience for our students.

The new schedule for 2020-21 includes critical changes and improvements that will advance our mission, develop our culture of scholarship, meet the safety guidelines and health recommendations issued by local and state education officials and health experts, provide continuity should we need to switch to an online/virtual learning platform, and offer our young women and men the kind of steady, predictable, and balanced rhythm and routine they deserve in order to thrive and flourish at Fenwick.

1. Flexibility and Adaptability  Flexibility: The new In-Person Daily Schedule will be implemented for our phased Fenwick BEST Return-to-School Plan. We will follow this schedule for Phase 2, Ramping Up, and for Phase 3, All On Campus. It can also be utilized should we need to transition to a Hybrid/Alternate Day format. In fact, those few students who require exclusive online learning from the start of academic year will follow this schedule just like their peers who are on campus.  Adaptability: The new schedule is flexible enough, when class periods are reduced and transition times are extended, to be used if we are required to employ an exclusively virtual/remote learning model at any time during the school year. These alterations are reflected in the Remote Learning Daily Schedule. In short, we wanted to create a schedule that would ensure a predictable rhythm and routine for our students, teachers, and families in all circumstances.

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2. Moving from an 8-period Day to a 7-period Day  Longer Classes: Each class is 45 minutes instead of 40 minutes; this allows for deeper discussions, better differentiated instruction, and more rigorous and flexible assessments. We were planning on 50-minute periods before COVID-19; however, that would lengthen the school day beyond 3:00 PM.  Similar Instructional Time: Each class meets 4 times per week, which results in 180 minutes of instructional time; this is roughly equivalent to the instructional time provided under the former schedule (5 periods x 40 minutes = 200). Again, until the Coronavirus, having 50-minute periods was our goal.  More Intensive Learning: Students have one fewer class each day, providing them a more focused and less fragmented experience of the school day; this also allows students to approach their homework differently, as not all classes meet each day; our students have been asking for this and our teachers support it.  Offering All of our Courses: Our goal, as stated above, is to be safe and to be together. We heard from so many students that they just want to back on campus, with other, in a way that is safe and healthy. To that end, we want to provide for our students the full, robust academic program they need. In other words, our schedule is designed to incorporate all courses, including electives, so that students get the full Fenwick experience. We are not opting to reduce classes or cut electives.

3. Fewer and Better Transitions  Fewer Transitions: In our response to COVID-19, we want to minimize the number of transitions that students have during the school day; this new schedule eliminates one transition; we are also exploring how to “group” and “cohort” students in the same grade level by putting their classes close to each other in the building.  Longer Passing Time: Because transitions will be more complex during COVID-19, with single file lines, one-way staircases, divided hallways, and staggered timing, it is imperative that we extend the passing time from 3 minutes to 5 minutes; this extended transition time allows us to “de-densify” our corridors, restrooms, etc.; we recognize that we may, in fact, need even more than 5 minutes between classes as students get used to the new system.

4. Homeroom Period Extended to 15 Minutes  Student Comfort and Confidence: We recognize that amidst so much uncertainty and unsettledness, our students are understandably a bit nervous and anxious; they need a regular, reliable routine that begins with a “home base” each morning; the longer Homeroom (15 minutes instead of 8-10) provides this “home base” to get everyone settled and secure, feeling comfortable and confident to begin each day.  Grade-Level Gatherings: We know that our students have missed being with their friends and also missed meeting new friends; we understand that these friendships, especially among their grade-level peers, are critical to their social, emotional, and relational health and happiness; we will now be able to offer shared grade-level experiences at least once a week with this new Homeroom Period, provided that the

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guidelines and regulations allow for these kinds of gatherings.

Attendance and Communication: Ensuring that students are present and safe each day will remains imperative during this time; so, also, will be the need to communicate directly and effectively with our students, which is always better done in person; having these extra few minutes will help everything to run more smoothly and allow Fenwick to increase, as needed, the passing time to First Period.

5. Trimesters  Additional Instructional Time: The Schedule Team, relying on input from teachers, recognized that having Midterm Exams in the middle of January broke the rhythm and routine of instruction; following the Christmas break, a few days of classes were held, most of which involved some level of review, that culminated with a week of exams; the disruption of teaching and learning was not insignificant; having rigorous assessments at the end of each trimester will better track student achievement.  Better Student (and Family) Experience for Christmas Break: Additionally, we heard from students and parents that because the Midterm Exams were looming upon students’ return in January, the Christmas vacation was not much of a “vacation” at all; there was, in fact, no natural or leisurely “break” here; removing the Midterm Exam week allows for more consistent quality instruction through the winter and provides a better, healthier experience for students and our families; Christmas break will actually be a “break” this year.  Calendar that Reflects the School Year: Moving to Trimesters allows the Academic Calendar to be more in sync with the School Year; there is a natural break at Thanksgiving, which coincides with the change in athletic season (fall to winter) and our Fall Theatre Production; there is another break in March, which coincides with the change in athletic season (winter to spring) and our Spring Theatre Production.  Fenwick’s Semester Classes become Full-Year Classes: We are moving “Semester” courses to “Full-Year” courses while preserving the total amount of teaching time for the year; this improvement will allow for every teacher to develop an in-person a relationship with his/her students and implement his/her course expectations before moving to an online platform if required by state guidelines (see below); therefore, every course will be equally impacted if we move to remote learning.  Appropriate for COVID-19: Many colleges and universities are restructuring their calendars to have the first semester, or at least any in-person learning, end at Thanksgiving; this timing reflects some of the prevailing wisdom regarding a difficult winter that combines flu season with Coronavirus resurgence; while we hope not to transition to an exclusively remote/virtual platform, we have move to trimesters in case this is necessary; this shift may provide a natural break at the critical time, so that only marking period—the second trimester—is affected by online learning.

6. Weekly Period for All-School Gatherings and Clubs & Activities  All-School Fenwick/Community Period: Each Monday, the third period is set aside for the entire Fenwick Family; the purpose of this period is to further deepen our connections to each other and to our School; we will host All-School Gatherings, including guest speakers, special presentations, and inspirational assemblies; these

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help us to develop student voice and leadership, to meet the needs of our young people through a holistic approach to their education, and to build community and generate positivity during this challenging time; we saw this last year with our Monthly All-School Gatherings, which both students and faculty/staff appreciated; this new schedule makes a space for this pivotal aspect of Fenwick’s mission.

Clubs and Activities: On the alternate Mondays, we will use this time for Clubs and Activities, and for other ways for students to become involved in the life of Fenwick; too often, students were forced to choose between sports and clubs/activities, or pulled in a many different directions with competing demands after school; while this Club/Activity Period will not solve all of these challenges, we believe that it will promote student engagement, develop servant leadership, cultivate the many gifts of our Fenwick scholars, and improve the overall Fenwick experience.

Transition to Remote Learning  Consistent Rhythm and Routine: From our Town Hall Meetings last spring and our recent Parent/Guardian Survey this summer, we know that students (and families) need a consistent, predictable schedule that reflects the order of our regular school day; should we be required transition to a virtual platform, we are able to utilize this same daily academic schedule making only minor adjustments.  Appropriate Balance of Screen Time and Down Time: We also know that students cannot and should not be online all day; should we move to a virtual platform, our virtual class periods would be shortened to 35 minutes and the “passing” time would be increased to 15 minutes; this allows for more focused teaching and learning via Zoom, etc., and gives students the appropriate “screen breaks”.  More details regarding our online schedule, should we need to implement a strictly virtual/remote learning experience, are found in our Return-to-School Plan.

There are many other advantages to our new schedule a slightly longer lunch period and a better way of scheduling electives that involve students from different grade levels.

To conclude, we believe we have created a schedule that reflects our mission, promotes a culture of scholarship, adheres to the guidelines and policies issued by leading experts and organizations, and most importantly, provides an exceptional learning experience for our students. We look forward to seeing you this fall!

99 Margin Street Peabody, MA 01960

(978) 587-8300

www.fenwick.org