On Thursday morning, June 5, Dr. Mooney emailed B-CC staff proposing changes to the bell schedule for the next school year, 2025-2026. Because this would have a significant impact on teachers and the community at large, Mooney has asked teachers to vote on the issue by next Friday, June 13, at 2:30 p.m. to come to a fair consensus.
The changes, endorsed by the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT), include an extended lunch period of 55 minutes each day to provide additional academic support for students. Lucia Bermudez, a junior at B-CC, said, “I think having longer lunch periods every day would be positive because it would let students have more of a break in the school day, especially with seven periods each day. The extra time could also allow students to eat lunch and meet with teachers, which is sometimes only possible on Wednesdays.” Under this proposal, each class period would be one minute shorter than the current forty-six-minute class period. Passing periods would also be cut from six minutes to five minutes. These reductions would allow for longer lunch periods, during which teachers would hold two 25-minute office hour sessions per week.
With weekly built in support for students, Wellbeing Wednesday, or advisory, would only be held once a month to share required presentations or surveys, or once a month. Similarly, Fridays would run on a slightly abbreviated schedule to allow for the screening of the latest B-CC TV episodes.
Mr. Murray, a teacher in the history department, said, “I think the 25 minutes of educational support twice a week is a good opportunity for students because it’s a set time and space for extra help. I also think the longer lunch period will be nice too, so students can better manage some of the stress of high school.”
