Rhinebeck High School will launch its Rotating, Drop Period Schedule when school opens Sept. 4.
The school day will feature six instructional classes at 54 minutes each, 13 minutes longer than a class period used by the high school in the 2023-2024 school year. The schedule gives students the opportunity to take eight classes, six times over an eight-day cycle with four classes rotating before and after lunch. A student may have math first period on the first day of the cycle, second period on day two, third period on day three and no math on the fourth day.
“I think our students and teachers are going to love it,” said Edwin Davenport, high school principal. “This is a dream of a building administrator to make a change that will benefit students and teachers. I am really excited to see it in action.
“We’ve tried to troubleshoot all the potential questions or problems, and I think our team has done a tremendous job. There may be some bumps in the road that we’re not anticipating, but I think one of the strengths of our district and school is that our students and teachers are able to respond and resolve them.”
A community lunch for all students is the fourth and middle period of the seven-period day. The community lunch allows all students the chance to recharge and reconnect. Students may grab their lunch and enjoy their meal indoors or outdoors, participate in extracurricular club activities if the adviser chooses to meet in the lunch period, or participate in a lunch and learn activity with a teacher.
“I think community lunch is good because we all get a time to see each other,” said senior Maddy Santoro. “If you need to see a teacher about schoolwork or with a question, that’s also helpful. It will benefit a lot of students.”
The district began considering and exploring different scheduling formats in 2020 and decided to use this format after a thorough review and research process that included visits to other schools.
Rhinebeck is the only high school in Dutchess County to use this scheduling format. Haldane in Putnam County, and Somers and Mamaroneck in Westchester County also use this format.
“The community lunch is going to be great, the positive climate of the school is going to be improved, and the longer classes allow for more student activities,” said Marc Burg, high school assistant principal.
“I think overall it’s going to be great. There are some growing pains in the first few months. I think it is going to take a little bit of time to get everybody used to the eight-day cycle, but we’re looking forward to the new schedule. It has a lot of benefits for the students and the overall culture of the school.”
Click here to hear from Dr. Davenport about the schedule.