Due to requirements from the Ministerio de Educación TCS will change the High and Middles School schedules for 2022-23 school year with longer school days similar to the pre-pandemic schedule.

Article 1 of the Decree 1850 of 2002, full or single school day required for MS and HS is 30 weekly hours and sixty minutes per class. Since the pandemic began, TCS has not met this obligation.

“During the pandemic (virtual school) class time and regular school hours were shortened due to mental health reasons and to help students and staff during the new at-home model,” Andres Rendón, High School Counselor said.

Next year class will start at 7:55 a.m. and finish at 3:15 p.m. A school day will last a total of 405 minutes and there will be 5 blocks but each class will be 70 minutes long. 

“When the pandemic happened we decreased the amount of instructional time. We were down to a total of 1,300 minutes a week when it used to be 1,700 minutes a week. Next year’s schedule we are going to get to the closest possible as before, it will be around 1,600 minutes a week,” Paul Navarra, HS Vice- Principal, said.

Many AP teachers were challenged due to not having enough time for class and having to “rush” over the topics.  The shortened schedule led teachers to give out more homework, causing stress among many students.

“I personally as a math teacher prefer to see my students 4 times a week for shorter blocks because I think students are able to retain more information and helps them review that material,” Gabriela Passentino, AP Calculus Teacher, said.

While many students lobbied for the return of the traditional early release on Wednesdays it will not be included in next year’s schedule.

“Next year’s schedule is going to be a tough change for us. Starting because it’s way longer, I don’t know how most of us will handle this change. I really wish the school gave us short Wednesdays back since we need to adapt all over again,” Ilana Garza, Grade 11, said.

TCS implemented a “pilot test” of the upcoming schedule model for the remainder of quarter 4. This will facilitate the time distribution because classes are going to be 70 minutes long.

“Students, specifically now with technology, have shorter attention spans. By having a 70-minute class there will definitely be times when students will be wasting time and not working. As teachers, we’re just going to have to plan more activities for each class, but it’s going to be hard to introduce two topics in one day,” Passantino said.

The main concerns of this change are that students and teachers aren’t happy with having to arrive earlier and days being longer in general, as well as the instructional time increasing. Many people are complaining to the school directives because they don’t agree with the change.

“I think this schedule will be a mess at the beginning of the year, but as always, everyone becomes more used to it as time passes,” Matias Alzate, Grade 11 STUCO, said.