Fountain Valley High School teachers voted on a new schedule for the 2022-2023 school year in response to Senate Bill 328 (SB 328). Under this new Senate Bill, students will be required to begin school at 8:30 a.m..
Let’s hear what our fellow Barons have to say about the new bell schedule.
Photos by Caroline Ngo.
“Personally, I do not like the new bell schedule. It starts at 8:30 am, which would be fine if it didn’t end at 3:29 pm, which is a whole hour of school added to the end of the bell schedule this year (2:25 pm). The reasoning for the new bell schedule annoyed me too, as it was about how students would get more sleep. I actually think that students would sleep later, maybe even lose sleep or get the same amount they always had without the change,” junior Natalie Ly said.
“Personally, I am not a big fan of next year’s bell schedule, mostly because it requires students to stay at school longer, which takes up the time to study, socialize and focus on other activities. I also feel like students could also use a longer break period. I prefer this year’s schedule because although we start later in the day next year, we’re able to get out of school earlier this year. I think this benefits a lot of students, especially athletes. I would rather start school early and get out earlier than start late and get out later,” freshman Ann Hyunh said.
“I am a senior so I won’t be personally affected by it, but I know for sure students would feel overwhelmed as they have to stay an hour later at school and have longer classes. It’s hard for students that have other commitments such as work, internships, confliscting schedules with their family members, and many more issues. Students are switching about half an hour of sleep for and extra hour of school. It’s very frustrating for the other students,” senior Madison Jones said.
“I personally don’t mind the bell schedule since I end practice late anyways. However I can understand the frustration with ending a whole hour later. I prefer this year’s bell schedule more since the period is fifty minutes long rather than fifty-six like next year’s,” junior Yaman Abbas said.
“I think it’s absolutely horrible. Why would we be starting like half an hour later, but finishing so much later? It’s going to make us stay up late doing homework because we’re getting home later. And so, we’re gonna get up later. The whole point of it is useless. The only difference is that we’ll be getting up like no later than the sun will rise so it’s different, but the entire school day will just be shifted by itself so there’s no point. I don’t really understand it. If we’re going to start half an hour later. Why can’t we finish off an hour later? So yeah, I feel strongly about that,” sophomore Tala Dawood said.
“I am okay with next year’s bell schedule, except for my only worry is that students are just going to go to bed later and still not get as much sleep. And so I don’t feel like it’s necessarily necessary to make that change. But as long as students are getting more sleep I’m I’m okay with it,” English teacher Todd Gruca said.
“I actually like the idea of having to start later. As a junior I plan on taking a zero to fifth period so I am not as worried about [being] late. However, the schedule poses new issues as my parents’ schedule sort of revolves around mine so with the schedule change, it also affects their schedule which would result in big changes,” sophomore Umaiza Asif said.
“Since we get 3:30, I don’t really like that because a lot of us have to work. So we get out later and then, especially for seniors, you’ll get a longer workload. It’s just not fun and so much more stressful. Like yes we get more sleep, but it comes with more work,” junior Jamie Tran said.
“It’s state law so we don’t have much of a say in the matter. Studies show that students who attend school later do better in school. Logistically, knowing students, the extra amount of sleep means more time to stay up late working. It will be very different and something new to get used to. I guess we will have to wait to see what it’s actually like,” AP Psychology teacher Gina Carbone said.
