Students Stressed by “Packed” Spring Term Schedule

By: Jessica Huang, Calista Lee, Vir Shrestha

The Academy returned to a fully synchronous in-person class schedule at the start of spring term on March 23. Many students have been experiencing rushed lunch times due to the shortening of lunch format to 40-50 minutes depending on day of the week, a reduction from last year’s 50-70 minute lunch format depending on the usage of long formats. In addition, some students have expressed confusion over the beginning of certain formats— in particular, on Week One Tuesdays, A format begins at 8:50 a.m. instead of 9:00 a.m. per usual; C/D formats alternate between 10:50 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. starting times depending on the week. Many students also felt that the new schedule was more dense than last term, with the absence of reserve formats in Week 1, leading to the feeling of a more cramped, demanding day. 

Director of Studies Scott Saltman acknowledged the difficulties in adjusting to a new schedule. “There are trade-offs in creating any schedule, and there is an adjustment period to any schedule,” Saltman said. “Students are noticing there is less free time in the middle of the day, particularly compared to last term when there was a lot of free time in the middle of the day. However, the schedule also has a later start in Week 1, a Wednesday without academic appointments in Week 2, and no evening classes.”

“We are watching the lunch situation carefully, taking data on wait times and noting the times at which the lines cleared fully,” Saltman said. “Every class day there have been three service points. There have been some lines, and those lines appear extra long because students are spread out by 6 feet. However, the wait times have not exceeded 12 minutes.”

Saltman believes that all students have enough time to eat lunch. “On all the days, the lines [have been] clear at least 25 minutes before the start of the next class. Any student who wanted a meal could get one, eat it, and make it to class,” Saltman said. 

To give students more time for lunch, the Academy shifted C and D1 class blocks forward by ten minutes on Monday and Tuesdays. The Academy extended lunch service points to Grill and the protein tent, and added a grab-and-go pick up from Thyme and Tide.

Upper and Student Council President Siona Jain shared mixed opinions on the new schedule. “I love that my classes don’t go until 8pm and that there’s no random asynchronous turn-in times at noon, but I’m struggling with the packed lunch and lack of reserves,” she said. 

Jain also expressed empathy for students frustrated about the schedule. “I feel the same way—our schedule is insanely packed. I think it was a rough wakeup call when I had a class meeting 4 times a week for 50 minutes, so I’m concerned about our workloads,” Jain said. “I’m also finding that these ‘off Wednesdays’ are packed with sports/clubs, and they don’t provide an adequate break. Students have been working nonstop since February, and I’m worried about burnout. I think we’re all exhausted.”

Many students agreed with Jain’s assessment that off-Wednesdays did not actually serve as breaks, due to the nature of commitments at Exeter to spill over into any available time. 

Jain conducted an informal Instagram livestream to gather students’ opinions on the schedule. “I took all of the students’ opinions and suggestions directly to Mr. Saltman. We included ideas such as cutting classes to their previous 45 minutes and compounding the extra 5 minutes into a break in the middle of the day or collapsing D1D2/B1B2 to the Friday schedule every day,” she said. 

Student Council also addressed student concerns about the short lunchtimes. “We suggested a snack cart be permanently kept outside or near the entrance. We also suggested, because lunch opens at 11 and most students can’t go until 12:30, that D-hall prepackages a few meals with the standard hot food options,” Jain said.

Many students felt overwhelmed by the cramped schedule. “Because the schedule is so compact and I have sports right after class ends, I begin my homework at maybe 7 p.m. at the earliest, which I believe cuts back on my productivity severely,” upper Stella Shattuck said.  

“As an online student, the new schedule has been a challenge. With so many classes back to back, I have been stuck starting at a screen for far too long,” remote senior Ethan Wasylyna said. “ I do like getting rid of 8 p.m. class, but I feel there needs to be more separation between class for online learning.”

Additionally, some students voiced concerns about the timing of classes. “My challenge is knowing when to do homework since I have a lot of random frees between classes. It is harder to separate learning time from mealtimes or even times to take breaks,” upper Hannah Henris said.

Lower Sinna Oumer shared similar thoughts. “There's been tons of schedule confusion in the time since it was implemented—I missed up to 20 minutes of class in several classes due to either the teacher or one of the students mistaking the time,” she said. “The irregularity doesn't help anymore—usually I set alarms for my class times, but now I have to set a new set of alarms every day! It's really confusing, especially when the changes are so subtle.”

Some athletes have also had trouble adjusting to the tight schedule. “I need to manage my time especially, so I am ready for sports right after my last class,” prep Solu Ajene said. “During last term, I had a few hours before my sports period, so I need to get used to the smaller break between my final class and sports.”

Despite the difficult adjustment, many students expressed satisfaction with their new schedule. “I'm able to get more sleep in the morning with this spring schedule, and I really enjoy it,” lower Kenny Chen said. “Compared to the fall and winter, I had more classes and a busier schedule.”  

Lower Angie Wah, who is learning remotely from Hong Kong, preferred the new schedule over the fall and winter schedules. “I feel that the educational and learning flow helps boost the effectiveness of classes, while the fall and winter schedules really [broke] things up and were messy and hard to get used to,” she said.

“I think the new schedule does a good job of designating subjects to different times of the day, so you aren’t overwhelmed,” Ajene said. “The schedule does a good job at giving large breaks for homework, self-time, etc..”

Prep Luke Davis attributed the stress to the Academy’s switch back to in-person instruction. “I hear a lot of people complaining about school this term and how tiring it is, attributing it to the new schedule. I’d agree that school feels more taxing nowadays, but I would say that it’s more due to the constant stream of in-person classes,” Davis said. “Even though we had classes for hours on end last term, being online gave us built in breaks— even if it was just a minute of time to breathe with the camera turned off.

Saltman noted that the schedule is important in creating a community on campus. “Now, we are returning to in-person classes as our backbone, and with that we created a schedule that gives us more of the class time that our community has always valued,” Saltman said. “While there is more class time in this schedule than in any of the other pandemic schedules, it is less than in the pre-pandemic schedule.”