Every year around this time, the school board approves a calendar for the next academic year. However, this year, the school opted to attempt to achieve District of Innovation status, which impacts the school calendar, as it allows more freedom in that department. Recently, the school board approved the DOI status of the district, so they had the ability to approve a calendar that was not possible in past years.

Starting next year, the school year will be separated into nine-week-long quarters instead of the six weeks the school used in previous years. Additionally, the year will start one week earlier than this year, on Aug. 20, but will end on May 28. All the major vacation breaks, other than summer, will be the same length as they are this year, and the everyday bell schedule should remain the same.

This new schedule has some benefits, but may be detrimental in some areas. Some juniors are not inherently against the new calendar, but are frustrated that everything is changing for their last year.

“The nine-weeks should be good because it will give teachers more time to get grades in,” junior Merritt Bush said. “It is kind of frustrating that it’s changing right before we leave.”

Other students are disappointed with the shorter summer break, but this dissatisfaction is diluted with relief, because the original suggestion was to begin the school year two weeks early instead of one.

“I think that starting early is a bad idea,” junior Kennedy Krajca said. “But at least we aren’t starting too early.”

Lengthening grading periods by approximately three weeks will allow teachers more time to gather grades without forcing unnecessary assignments on their students. It will also provide a more accurate representation of students’ abilities in a particular class, because with more assignments per period, the average will be based on a greater sample of work and will be less skewed by a few really good or really bad grades.

With the new DOI status, it is uncertain what the district will do next, but this gives them the freedom to implement changes that will allow teachers and administrators to provide a more productive and efficient academic environment for the students.