Students at Glen Rock high school were asked about their preferences for multiple different aspects of the schedule, including start times, period length, and drop schedules.

This past school year has been the complete opposite of normal, and that includes all of the changes to the school schedule. In the beginning of the year, the majority of students came into the building every other day, with a few staying fully virtual. From there, it moved into a three-cohort format with students being in the building twice every three days, and has undergone frequent changes for the last month and a half.

Even though the current school schedule is generally well-liked, there are always some possible improvements that could be made. Of four potential changes to the school schedule that were presented (full in-person learning, removing the drop period, going back to the A/B schedule, and having shorter periods), the most popular was a switch to shorter periods, with over 80 percent of people ranking it in their top two choices.

Even with all of the unlimited potential changes to the schedule, only two different formats have actually been in use: the A/B and A/B/C formats. Opinions on each schedule were similar among grades, with all four of them preferring the A/B/C schedule, albeit by different margins.

But what if it was possible for the students to choose their perfect school day? Would people want to start earlier or later? Have longer or shorter classes? Go in-person every single day or stay hybrid? The majority of students were split among each question, sometimes even right down the middle.

There was a clear trend when it came to the responses in this poll, and it was that the overwhelming majority of students preferred a school model that they had already used before the pandemic even started. Of the three in-person format options, the overwhelming favorite was a full in-person schedule, despite it not being in use since the previous school year.

Just like with the schedules, the majority of the students preferred what they were used to when it came to the schedule length: over 65 percent of respondents wanted the traditional 58-minute periods with a drop schedule. Finally, just over 50 percent of the students preferred the 7:50 start time, which was in use prior to virtual learning at the start of 2020.