Recently rumors about the schedule changing and the end of intervention are being spread all around our school. Students are going “crazy” just with the thought of intervention being removed from their schedule.

Differently from many other high schools, Everett High has an intervention block, which was first added to the schedule as a study block replacement and to allow additional help time for students. 

However, as we already know, intervention has been in constant change ever since Covid started, and even now that everything’s back to “normal” we still haven’t figured out how intervention time can be used more “responsibly.” 

In a conversation with the vice principals we got to know a little bit about what they are thinking in terms of plans for next year’s schedule.  Although no specific changes have been decided, the administration is aware of concerns around how best to use the instructional time we have during the school day, and wants to make the right decision.

“Intervention was created to give students additional time to get help from their teachers,” said vice principal James Murphy. “We have been discussing a possible change in the intervention block right now. We are not so sure that students make the best use of their time, so we are looking for options for that period. None of the changes have been determined yet, but we are trying to do the best we can to get students to make a better use of their intervention.”

“We are getting a lot of feedback from teachers and students about our current schedule and we are going to make sure everybody’s opinion about the schedule changes is being heard,” Murphy said. “What we hear the most is that the class periods being too long and students and teachers are struggling to stay in class for all that time. So we are now focusing on making changes to make the classes shorter and easier to get through.” 

Students and teachers share different opinions about what should be done with intervention for the next school year, and people responsible for the changes are being put in a tough spot of deciding what should actually be done to it. 

Some students see intervention as the only time during the school day when they can have a much-needed “break.”

“I think I can say that there is no one in this building that actually enjoys being here,” said junior Jose Olavo. “Long classes, short breaks, we do this five days a week and and still someone wants to take intervention out and add another class? It’s unacceptable. There are a lot of students like me who have to work after school till later at night and none of that is being considered. I absolutely hate the idea of having to take another class next year if they get rid of intervention and that I wouldn’t have a break block.” 

Others aren’t so convinced that it’s the best use of their time.

“I understand why they want to change it,” said junior Anne Machado.” And to be honest I wouldn’t really mind if it actually gets changed. I, just like other students, refuse to stay in class for so long and I’m impressed it actually took the school all this time to realize that they are keeping us in the same class for too long.”

”I don’t really care about the changes that they want to make for next year,” said junior Elisa Alves. “There are other things that could be changed to improve the students’ performance in class but you guys are not ready for that conversation yet.”

Schedule changes are a common thing in high school. There are multiple reasons why the schedule may need to be changed or adjusted such as conflicts with extracurricular activities, academic challenges, or changes in course offerings; however these changes can be very disruptive and stressful for students and their teachers. 

Opposite from what has been said by students, teachers around the school think the time should be used  to teach students life skills, and other things that students will actually need to get out there in the world once they are out of High School.

Regardless, there seems to be a desire among all parties to shorten the length of the current classes.  What that would actually look like, though, in terms of adding additional class periods to the schedule and/or removing intervention is a tricky decision.