What Students and Faculty Have to Say About the New Block Schedule

By Jackie Nguyen

How does Jenks' new change from regular schedule to block schedule correlate to the amount of stress students gain? A lot of students and teachers have a lot of opinions on it.

After lots of communicating and meeting with multiple administrators, Jenks High School has completely switched over to a block scheduling system. A new format of a class schedule for students to flourish for the future; this new method gives students the opportunity to take more courses.

Over the years Jenks High School has been on the standard 45 minute length classes, bringing students to take 6 classes per semester. At the start of the 2026 school year, Jenks High School made the decision to transition from this traditional schedule and introduce a new type of calendar to allow more time within the classroom in dreams of bringing more academic opportunity for their students. 

The block schedule is a 7 course schedule that operates from the Jenks Middle School to the Jenks High school, compared to the standard schedule of 55 minutes per class period, the block schedule gives longer class time lasting an additional 35 minutes, making each class period 90 minutes long. The longer duration in the classrooms gives teachers more time to go over lessons and lectures they could never have the chance to go over before, this allows more cognitive time for students to escalate their learning and strive for a more academic goal.

 Despite these changes and goals, some questions rise. The longer period is surely intimidating. With new generations devolving in a short attention span, how do students regulate in their classes that are excessively long? How do teachers manage to redirect their ways of teachings? This new sense of rigor isn’t for everyone, but does the student stress escalate? Do teachers feel the same amount of pressure? Now looking at different scopes of this new implementation can tell us insights from both sides.

One of the most notable things about block schedule is the amount of time that’s given to students for each class. 90 minutes is something that immediately bores us students when we hear about the concept of staying in a classroom for that excessive amount of time, however after weeks of adjusting to this new routine some students actually managed to work their way around block schedule pretty well.

“So far I feel like I've done better academically due to my block schedule- I do think I'm adjusting pretty well”, said current senior at Jenks High School Maliyah London “My course load doesn't feel too heavy yet but it feels manageable because it's spread out throughout my week.”

London emphasizes on how she believes that there has been positive effects on her as an academically driven student, she mentions that even after taking on a very rigorous course load with classes like Advanced Placement (AP) Economics, AP Government and Politics, AP Literature, etc-she still doesn't feel overwhelmed. This is something that Jenks strives for in students.

Turns out the block schedule has been very beneficial, but what do teachers have to say about this?

“I think there’s actually more opportunity,” said Jordan Johnson, “In the 45 minute block, I felt like there was so much information I had to give them- that all I did was just say it to them.”

 Johnson is an AP Psychology teacher, and she highlights the struggle of dealing with the limited time that was offered during Jenks old classroom schedule. She describes how due to the short frame of time that was given before the block schedule, it was harder to have effective learning time- oftentimes focusing on giving out the information that students should know rather than really allowing them to interact or fully understand the material. These were barriers that occurred because of the short 45 minute class periods.

“In the longer block, I feel like I give them more time to practice- we can almost interact more just because of the time”, because of the extended time more students have the opportunity to do more comprehensive activities. Students are now able to be more intentional with the material that they learn.

A similar idea was reflected by a teacher in the English department.

“I feel like I have the opportunity to go deeper in areas that I’ve always wanted to go deeper in- but lacked the time” Sydnie Ritze notes. She’s able to cover a bit more of the material that she needs to go over with her students because of the extra time in the extended bell schedule. However, a key thing that she repeated was how she paced herself within her teaching time.

“It’s not that we just took two days worth of material and shoved it together- we’re trying to figure out how to pace ourselves differently”

Going from 45 minutes to 90 minutes in class is a big jump. Being considerate with the time that's given, teachers are constantly relearning a new way to pace themselves to fit the right planning for their classes. Yes, now they have more planning, but the majority of this time is filled with restructuring a new layout of teaching.

A teacher in the history department points out a key thing that’s structured in their classroom.

“We had to build out specific things to fit a 50 minute block period. It’s more difficult than just smushing 2 days together.”

The way teachers planned their lessons in the years before the block schedule was coded to specifically fit the 45 minute period. Yes more time is given; it gives so much extra time to theoretically stretch out lessons or go over further concepts however it’s not as simple as it sounds.

“You can’t really just take one or two days and stick them together because technically we have less time over the two week period” said a history teacher.

Even though classes are longer now, the obstacle with the block schedule is the fact that students and teachers have less days together, which means teachers are forced to cram in lessons to stay on track with the curriculum. Though this is just the beginning, given that teachers are having to face seeing their students less throughout the week it can make it harder for teachers to coordinate specific lessons, but the extra class period makes it better for teachers because now they have an additional 90 minutes to plan, alongside with advisory time. 

“I feel more prepared this year and the structure and time built into my day has helped- being able to teach a class and not teach them again until a day later gives me time to tweak my lessons.” said Ritze.

Not only does the new schedule give more time for teachers to teach, it gives them the chance to alter how they structure lessons without having to worry about critiquing every flaw on the spot and having it prepared by the next day for each class.

The recurring theme is that the block schedule gives teachers more time to dive deeper into their teachings. This helps with more effective lessons, hence students are able to have a better understanding of the things that they learned in class. But does that mean that previous lessons taught the years prior weren’t helpful for the students?

“Teachers have a tremendous influence on engagement, but I wouldn’t say it depends entirely on the teacher.” Richard Breig said.

Breig underlines how teachers do have the responsibility to create an environment for students to learn but students also play a part in their own learning. Learning shouldn’t solely fall in the hands of the teachers when students are also capable of themselves in their classes. Students nowadays struggle to stay focused in class- and it’s known that the newer generations’ attention spans have only gotten shorter.

“The advantage isn’t really that students suddenly have a longer attention span. The advantage is that the teacher has more time and flexibility to design around different attention spans.”

Although students are also responsible for their own learning, teachers can still make accommodations that will help students stay on top of their education.

Breig specializes in the science department, structuring times for labs and lectures, especially on the same day can often clash with a student's motivation to participate in class. Breig was able to overcome this hindrance by structuring his class time to consider both elements of learning and student productivity.

 “I don’t think students should be expected to spend 90 minutes continuously in one seat, changing activities, allowing students to move around the room, working with different people, and giving them something active to do helps considerably. After a while, even the best chair in the building starts to feel like a punishment” said Breig.

Setting up times for students to do different tasks can allow students to be more present within the classroom, using the entire 90 minutes for only lectures and work can be exhausting. Students need a change not active lectures on top of lectures. If teachers formatted their classes to have multiple steps to walk into, this could keep students on their feet.

Jenks introduction of the block schedule has raised curiosity amongst staff and students, stimulating conversations about whether it’s something we should keep or not. The extended time sounds excessive, but it has its charms to it. Students are given the opportunity to enhance their rigorous path by having an additional course and having more time within the classroom with their teachers.

Although having to restructure something that’s been implemented into our daily lessons has been something that is still being worked on, teachers have more time to focus on how to make class more impactful and effective. As of now the block schedule is just being tested but with the input of both students and teachers, this could be something that would be staying at the Jenks High School for a while.