A quick look at this year’s schedules will reveal something different: lunch is now considered fifth period. The effect is that  periods 5, 6 and 7 have become periods 6, 7 and 8. What many could see as a minimal, insignificant change has been the source of major aggravation amongst the student body.

The difference, while small, is difficult to adapt to because of the amount of years that have been spent with lunch not being considered as a period. This has led to a cavalcade of corrections from petty mistakes at the tops of papers made by students and faculty alike. While I’m sure we’ll eventually adjust, the “new periods” still feel weird. Naturally, the question that consistently has arisen is why the changes have been put in place.

“All schools were asked to have their lunch time be one of the periods during the school day,” said Principal Jennifer Baker.  She went on to say that WJ decided not to change their bell schedule fundamentally, so the school had to “have an eight period day where lunch is fifth period.”

The decision to change the schedule was not internal and was administered to several MCPS schools from the head MCPS offices. However, attempts to contact MCPS did not yield any answers.  So where did this come from?

Representatives from the MCPS offices indicated that the decision probably came from former WJ principal and current community superintendent, Dr. Christopher Garran. After contacting the office, which oversees WJ and several surrounding schools, Garran’s secretary  said that the decision came from Maryland public schools as a whole.

The secretary went on to say the reason for the change was a need to accurately log the number of minutes students spend in class for attendance purposes. Later in the year, MCPS will  report this data to Maryland through their technology office.

While slightly annoying, the need for the re-alignment of periods is certainly justified. Data regarding attendance and minutes logged in class is certainly pertinent to decisions about the schools. This means circulating rumors about the change being made to combat students taking classes during lunch are off the mark. Overall, the decision seems pretty straightforward.

What’s more interesting or worrisome is the lack of knowledge regarding the change that came from the MCPS offices. I was re-routed several times to other offices in MCPS and then to Garran’s office, only to find this was a state-wide change.  One would think this should be a change that MCPS offices are readily knowledgeable about.

Nevertheless, the change that brought much banter and confusion at the beginning of the year has been solved. Interestingly, there were no public memos or letters to provide needed explanation, and goodness knows anything that reduces confusion in high school is certainly welcome.