Office Hours should be discarded in favor of a new schedule

by Eric Furth

Calendar Editor

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District is currently engaged in discussion concerning future scheduling options for Mira Costa, possibly to replace Office Hours. The District should consider pursuing these new options for an improved schedule because of how flawed Office Hours is as a schedule.

Some of the new ideas being workshopped by the MBUSD include a block scheduling class, which would allow for certain classes to only be taught on certain days similar to a college, would prove to be a much better use of faculty and student time.

According to MBUSD Board Member Bill Fournell, the District is working on creating more balance within the overall student body with regards to schedule, course load, homework, extracurriculars, and zero period. The District is still in the process of finding root causes to justify possibly changing the schedule from Office Hours to a new organizational system.

Office Hours, in its current state, has an ambiguous function during the average school week. Various different sources, from faculty to administrative staff, have stated that Office Hours can serve as test-make ups, silent study hall, or a time for socializing if a student doesn’t have anything to do. Shifting to a new schedule, such as a college schedule with certain classes on certain days, would be much more productive for students and teachers to participate in.

According to Fournell, other Southern California schools have served as inspiration for plausible schedule changes to be implemented in lieu of Office Hours, such as Redondo Union’s block schedule. Major considerations influencing the schedule change are how students will be able to juggle extracurriculars, APs, and their average homework load under the current schedule.

Office Hours disrupt the learning environment by shortening periods to around 40 minutes per class, forcing teachers to schedule important lectures or tests for other days because they’re left with an insufficient amount of time to teach. Moving specific classes to specific weekdays means a much more systematic and clear-cut way of planning class activities without the risk of falling behind.

According to MBUSD Board President Ellen Rosenberg, the transition to a drastically different schedule would be difficult but worth it in the long-run. Whatever decision the District comes to, the end goal is to improve the academic life of the average Costa student without causing an excess amount of stress in the process.

Office Hours doesn’t accomplish the goals it was set out to accomplish, and should be discarded for a new schedule which won’t disrupt class time and can allow classes to avoid the risk of falling behind.