Campus warms up to pilot schedule after slow morning commute (part 2 of 3)

January 6, 2017

The modified block schedule pilot entered it’s second day on Thursday and students and staff settled in to the changes.

“I like it because if I get into a good pattern, I will focus and I will have longer to get work done,” sophomore Nick Kader said.

However, as day two began at Coppell High School, many students were still far from the building. Because the schedule places period at the beginning of the day, upperclassmen who normally come to school after first period release added to the amount of traffic getting to CHS.

Along with traffic on the streets, there was also a great deal of congestion as students walked to and from lunch.

But even with the issues that have presented themselves, the schedule has worked well for students, according to administration.

“Everything so far has been solvable,” assistant principal Joseph Smith said. “The flow in the lunches was a little bit tricky, and we wondered should we make some kind of expectation on how the flow goes.”

Student Resource Officer Chris Cobb watches the traffic between first and second period in the hallway outside the police office early this morning. Fourth period is the first skinny period of the new block schedule which is being tested and this made the halls more crowded as students without first periods had to attend. Photo by Hannah Tucker.

In the second day of the pilot, many students and teachers embraced the schedule with a positive attitude.

“There’s been a positive vibe around,” Smith said. “A lot of teachers have commented that it’s really nice to get into some form of content and not have to stop and then tomorrow have to build all the momentum back up again.”

During the afternoon, which included eighth and first periods, juniors and seniors were released while freshman and sophomores stayed for group activities including learning about their digital footprint and a hour of code activity where they looked at programing.

In C120 with French and Spanish teacher Michael Eagan and English teacher Kyndal Rose the class discussion focused on thinking before you post personal information to social media.
“It was kinda interesting,” freshman Camryn Rudd said. “Just realizing that stuff stays out there.”

Coppell High School sophomores Akshaj Turebylu and Patrick Unnikrishnan work on homework in their designated classroom this afternoon after finishing their given eighth period activity on the B Day of the test block schedule on Thursday. In this temporary eighth period, freshmen and sophomores learned about coding and gained inspiration for future careers. Photo by Hannah Tucker.

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