The administration plans to change the mod schedule for the 2015-2016 school year, following an Independent School Management (ISM) consultation that occurred on March 23-25, 2014.

It has not yet been determined how the current schedule will change. There will be a committee of teachers who will meet over the summer break to get some “ground work done before the school starts,” Principal Madelyn Ball said.

According to Ball, the 6-7 schedules that were suggested by the ISM consultation will be considered by the committee of teachers. However, the new, finalized schedule will most likely be a hybrid of these suggestions.

“Each one has something that we like,” Ball said.

Some of these aspects include built-in professional development meetings and assembly times.

One issue with our current schedule is that it only offers seven classes. Students in the Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics Program (STEM) are required to take eight.

“I want [the schedule] to be more flexible so that kids can take what they want to take, not just STEM kids,” Ball said. “Anybody who wants to take band or chorus or something should be able to do that during the normal school day.”

“I would like for there to be the possibility of having eight classes. I do not want every child to take eight classes, but for some kids, if that eighth class is chorus, and if [a student] looks at that [class] as something they really want to do, and if they can fit it into their schedule, then that is the way it should be,” Ball said.

According to Vice Principal for Academics Gary Scholl, JC’s current modular schedule is over 40 years old. “[We’ve] twisted it up enough, and [we] can’t do it anymore,” Scholl said. “[The schedule] needs to meet the ever-changing demands [of the school].”

Once the new schedule grows more finalized, students’ opinions will be brought in.

“I’d have to have representatives from each grade level. Maybe we would involve seniors, [even though the change] wouldn’t really have an effect on them,” Ball said.

Students have varying opinions on the impending change.

“It all depends on how it changes,” sophomore Max Butschky said. “If it ends up like a public school schedule, I’m going to hate it.” Butschky will be a senior when the schedule will be implemented.

“I’d like more than 45 minutes off to hang out with my friends and do homework,” freshman Taylor Dorris said.

In addition to students’ opinions, “we’d also probably have to have a couple of parents on the committee,” Ball said.

Ultimately, the planning for the schedule change is still in its early stages. It’s unannounced who will be on the committee and it is unclear how the schedule will change. However, according to Ball, it is clear that change needs to happen.

“The way the schedule is right now, I’ve got somebody next year who wants to take AP Physics and AP Spanish. It’s absolutely impossible,” Ball said. “So we’ve got to look into how we can make these things work.”

Angela DeCarlo is a Copy Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.