The Upper School faculty convened for preliminary discussions about the possibilities of an altered schedule for the 2014-2015 school year in a meeting on Wednesday.

Though the prospective changes are still in their infancy, various teachers and staff have cited the overall need for a more efficient school day that involves less stress for students as the primary driving force behind the schedule overhaul. The ideas for block schedules involve Monday remaining with all eight periods of the day, but with Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday having alternating courses for longer periods of time.

“Teachers are concerned that every time we have an alternate schedule, we lose contact time, which means teaching time,” Head of Upper School Butch Keller said. “And that is a very precious commodity.”

Keller outlined the different philosophical positions that faculty members have taken concerning the schedule as it is currently laid out. Besides contact time, teachers are uneasy about the number of sudden transitions between subjects many students have, the efficiency of current homework assignments, and the amount of one-on-one time they are able to have with each student.

“It is a little more challenging, planning for that longer period, but it also allows for space in class to do one-on-one [teaching], or to practice after learning an idea,” Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine said. “It’ll provide space for me to give that individualized attention, which I think a lot of students will benefit from.”

Three or more schedule plans have been proposed so far by the faculty, and there are many more steps that need to be taken before these plans are set in stone, if at all.

“I think [block schedules] would be cool, because you don’t have that many classes, so it’s easier to focus on subjects,” Irene Bashar (9) said.

Keller ultimately thought that any decision that the faculty would agree on would be purely for the welfare of Upper School students. Some of the challenges that the faculty have faced so far are mostly concerned with keeping the school day the same length as it has been while instituting the block schedule changes and incorporating events somewhat unique to Harker, such as extra help and school or class meetings.

Other students have shared different views on the potential changes. An anonymous sophomore thought that increasing the number of block periods might not be best for student concentration, while Jonathan Hochberg (10) voiced his worries regarding how tests might proceed.

“For me, personally, if there’s a test on Thursday, and you’re not going to have [the class period] on Wednesday except for second or eighth period, then you’d want to have that extra studying the day before the test,” he said. “That’s why in eighth period I’m always more prepared. So I would say keep it at two.”

In the end, Keller stressed that any possible changes have only the best interests of the students in mind.

“I just want to make sure that students understand that any decision we’re making regarding the schedule is really for student benefit,” he said. “There’s no hidden agenda or anything like that, it’s really about making it better for you guys.”