Royal Time is back in business; this time only on Mondays and Wednesdays!
Through much deliberation, since August of 2019, three separate bell schedules were created for this school year. Mondays and Wednesdays begin at 8:30 a.m. and have Royal Time, Tuesdays and Thursdays begin at 9:20 a.m. with no Royal Time, while Fridays begin at 8:30 a.m. and do not have Royal Time. Speaking on behalf of the majority of students and teachers, it is confusing to have three different bell schedules. It would also be beneficial for many students to have extra Royal Time.
“We looked at a number of options for the bell schedule that would achieve the objective of providing all students with schoolwide intervention support,” said Principal Dr. Kip Glazer. “We had to create a schedule that would meet various legal mandates, contractual obligations and additional constraints, and the SMHS teachers voted for this new schedule.”
As Dr. Glazer mentioned, the SLT, Site Leadership Team, created the bell schedule keeping in mind the requirements: following the State of California, school lunches must be a minimum of 30 minutes between 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m and as of January 1, 2022, schools cannot start before 8:30 in the morning. San Marcos has already implemented this requirement which is appreciated by many students and staff. At SM there is also a late start Tuesday and Thursday, when it is only required to have one on Thursday by the SBTA (Santa Barbara Teachers Association) contract. Lastly, the administration had to take into account the MTD bus schedule.
Dr. Glazer summed it up well by saying, “For what it’s worth, a bell schedule is not something that is simple to create as it requires a lot of discussions and thoughts.”
However, it just makes sense to have Royal Time on Fridays as well.
In the past, the Royal Time schedule was everyday, except Thursdays, meaning it used to be on Fridays also. The periods were 25 minutes long rather than 45 minutes, like they are now. The old schedule for Royal time did not meet the requirements of “instructional minutes” though, which is why the new Royal Time is now twice a week and 45 minutes long.
“Teachers said it was tough in 25 minutes to have everyone come in, sit down, take attendance, do what they needed to do and we felt like it would be better and more align with our block schedule if we had less periods that were longer, versus more periods that were shorter which is kind of the whole theme of the block schedule,” said Assistant-Principal Alex Sheldon. “At the end of the week there was the least need for getting help for students because of how a week goes down.”
While this is typically true, it is always helpful for students to have extra time for school work, especially since it is later into the year already. With sports, volunteering, jobs, and other occupations students can fall quickly behind with homework, assignments, and studying. The point of school is to learn. If students are just rushing to finish an assignment on time, they cannot learn the material. Royal Time is an opportunity San Marcos students get to have; more time dedicated to catching up and understanding their classes.
“I think Royal Time should also be on Fridays,” said sophomore Roman Trovato, “I like my Royal Time and it would be cool to have it on Fridays as well as the days we already have it.”
Some students have enrichment classes like swimming or knitting. While some students have Intervention periods and Study Hall, where they have designated time to get help in their classes and extra time to do work. Having the enrichment Royal Times turn into Study Halls, can, not only saves resources, but improve students grades.
Having Royal Time on Fridays simply makes sense for the sake of student learning.
