In some way, shape or form, the block schedule rules over nearly every local high school.

According to a story in The Santa Fe New Mexican by Robert Nott, Santa Fe High School's block schedule is like this: Students attend all seven classes on Monday (classes are 55 minutes long); on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students have periods 1, 3, 5 and 7, which are 90 minutes long; and on Wednesdays and Fridays, students will attend periods 2, 4, 6 and 7, also for 90 minutes each.

According to that article, which ran in the
July 31 edition of The New Mexican, Capital High School now follows a modified block schedule. This means that on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, students attend all 52-minute classes; on Wednesdays, students attend three of their regular classes, which last about 110 minutes; and on Thursday, they attend three other regular classes for a longer periods. But on the days with the longer classes, any class held right before or after lunch lasts only 52 minutes.

Most agree that the block system has advantages, but opinions vary when it comes to how the system should operate.

Schools understand that every time a new schedule is introduced, students' lives are affected. The goal is to find the system that works best. According to Santa Fe High School Principal Robert Stephens, the longer periods are meant to give students more instruction time, which should encourage dialogue between students and teachers.

Santa Fe High School took a big leap this year. After four years of six-period days with 60-minute classes, the school's 1,700 students are trying to adjust to an alternating block schedule. The school now has seven periods, plus a Demon Enrichment Period. Monday is "Spirit Day," when students attend all seven periods. Tuesday through Friday, students are on a block schedule plus a 30-minute DEP and a 50-minute class that meets every day.

"I like it," said Santa Fe High senior Joshua Graves. "It gives me more time to do homework assignments, but I also feel like I have to work a lot harder because we have less time in class and we need to finish the same amount of material."

Students are spending less time in each class overall, but because classes are longer, there is not as much stopping mid-assignment. Science, art and culinary classes really thrive on a block schedule. Still, the new system has taken some getting used to.

"I don't like that people who are in the same grade don't have lunch together anymore," said Santa Fe High sophomore Jonah Tafoya. "It can be annoying, but I kind of like it better than last year. We have more classes, so we can get more credits."

Capital High School counselors support the modified block schedule.

"It gives them (students) the opportunity to have more time in each of their classes to do projects and things that take extra time," said counselor Karen Siezdoer. "There are a lot of applications for it and there are lots of different benefits. It just depends on how the teacher wants to use it."

Capital and Santa Fe High freshmen have the opportunity to earn 28 credits — four more than the required 24. This gives students the chance to take Santa Fe Community College classes, do an internship, volunteer or work during senior year.

"I haven't really heard anyone complaining," Siezdoer said.

St. Michael's High School, The Academy for Technology and the Classics and Desert Academy also use different forms of the block schedule.

"Basically we have an A day (Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday) and a B day (Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday)" explained Amy Miller, Desert's assistant head of school. "Each day consists of four 90-minute periods."

It sounds simple enough, and according to Miller, there are more pros than cons.

"I really like this schedule because it allows students and teachers to spend more time on a subject, delving deeper than they possibly could in a traditional 45-minute class," Miller said. "In addition, fewer passing periods means a more focused school day, and fewer transitions are better for most students' sanity."

So what's the definition of a successful block schedule? More opportunities, fewer interruptions — and increased sanity.

Tori Velarde is a senior at Santa Fe High School. You can reach her at tori@velardenm.com.