Alice Wang ‘26
St. Mark’s has announced a significant change to its daily schedule for the 2024-2025 academic year. The school's afternoon community blocks, traditionally held early afternoon, will now take place at the end of the school day.
This adjustment moves the afternoon community blocks—a 40-minute period for faculty, club, and affinity group meetings—to 2:25-3:05 PM on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The change is designed to offer several benefits to students and faculty. By placing community time at the end of the day, the school aims to encourage broader participation in clubs and activities, as students won’t feel pressured to rush back to class afterward. Moreover, students involved in after-school sports or activities may find the transition easier with community time serving as a buffer between classes and extracurriculars. Research shows that cognitive abilities tend to peak between 10 am to 2 pm. By scheduling academic classes during these optimal times, students may experience improved learning outcomes.
Despite these benefits, the schedule shift has raised concerns among students, particularly those with first lunch. These students may no longer have breaks between afternoon classes, which they often use for short naps to recharge before their final class. The loss of this downtime could negatively impact their focus and energy in later periods. Additionally, some students rely on the community block or breaks to catch up on homework. With this time now at the end of the day, they might feel more pressure to skip lunch to complete assignments, potentially affecting their well-being.
In conclusion, while St. Mark’s hopes that moving community blocks to the end of the day will foster greater engagement in extracurricular activities and optimize academic performance, the new schedule may present challenges for students who need breaks between classes or rely on community time for rest or academic catch-up. Balancing these factors will be key to determining the overall success of the new schedule.