Fall term is traditionally a time for members of the Peddie community to adjust to new beginnings and changes, with the goal of learning from previous experiences to set themselves up for future success. This year, Peddie introduced significant changes to its school schedule, including Blue and Gold weeks, alternating start times and the reduction of Saturday classes. According to Associate Head of School Ms. Rodrigue, factors, such as potential health benefits, stress reduction and an overall increase in free time went into the Curriculum Committee’s decision to implement this new schedule.
With the trimester now over, the Peddie News asked both students and employees to reflect on the impact these changes have had on their lifestyles and routines.
Alternating Schedules
The 2024-25 school year has seen the incorporation of a biweekly schedule rotation, in which each week is either called a ‘Blue’ or ‘Gold’ week. One of the major differences between the two is that while Blue weeks have Saturday classes, Gold weeks do not. Each school day within the two-week period also has a unique schedule with a different number of blocks (A-G) in various orders.
This change has generally been met with positive reception, with 60% of respondents reporting that they liked having the alternating weekly schedules and only 13% saying they did not. Many stated that they enjoyed the variety and flexibility that the differing start times and weeks provided, as well as the perk of having full weekends every other week. Several faculty members also cited the ability to have multiple different class times as particularly advantageous.
That being said, the complexity has proven to be fairly confusing; several respondents admitted that it was often annoying and difficult to keep track of their classes due to the schedule’s more convoluted, less consistent nature. But the school’s integration of automatic Google Calendar entries for classes, as well as the calendar features on PowerSchool, have been very helpful in minimizing the inconvenience. For over a quarter of respondents — comprising a fair amount of both commuters and boarders — it was never too much of a bother to begin with. However, 10 out of the 13 people who disliked the alternating schedules were commuting students and faculty/staff.
Later Start Times
In addition to alternating weeks, all Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays start at 8:30 a.m., while Tuesdays and Thursdays start at 8:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m days encompass five classes and end at 3:10 p.m., except for Blue Saturdays, which consist of three blocks and end at 11:20 a.m. On the other hand, 8:00 a.m. starts include only four classes, longer break periods, and a 2:35 p.m. dismissal. All of this adds to the complication of the new schedule, but does it outweigh the intended benefits?
Starting later makes for brighter mornings due to more sunlight, and research shows that later start times correspond to improved academic performance and a positive impact on health in general. For a majority of respondents, this sentiment has proven true — 70% of both faculty/staff and students said that they enjoyed having alternating start times, and several expressed that even just the 30 minutes makes a huge difference in engagement and allows them to get some much-needed extra sleep.
For some, however, the 30-minute difference is not enough to outweigh the fact that the alternating start times are very confusing and hard to get acclimated to. Many, even those who enjoy the alternating times, would prefer consistency, whether that means reverting to 8:00 a.m. starts or switching to 8:30 a.m. starts (the latter being the more popular opinion). However, 14% of respondents assumed a neutral stance on this topic, indicating that everyone has had different experiences with the new schedule.
Should Peddie have Saturday school?
Arguably the biggest change made to the schedule this year was cutting the number of Saturday classes by half. 84% of students, 79% of faculty/staff and over 80% of total respondents stated that they like having every other Saturday off. Having the extra free time has obviously been regarded as a remarkable improvement to previous school schedules. Additionally, of the people who indicated that they did not like having biweekly Saturday classes, 29% felt this way because they would rather get rid of Saturday classes entirely. This was further investigated in a subsequent question on the form, as shown below.
Opinions on Peddie’s Saturday classes were heavily split: 11% of respondents thought that it would be best for the school to have weekly Saturday classes, 41% of respondents believed that Saturday classes should be held biweekly and 46% of respondents stated that they thought Peddie should not have Saturday school at all. 12% and 48% of faculty and staff were in favor of Saturday school weekly and biweekly, respectively. For students, 10% were in favor of weekly Saturday classes, and 37% preferred biweekly Saturday classes. In summary, weekly Saturday school was the least popular choice, but students showed a higher preference for no Saturday school than Peddie’s faculty and staff did.
58% of boarding students and 45% of Peddie’s boarding faculty/staff were in favor of no Saturday classes, compared to the 40% of commuting students and 23% of commuting faculty/staff who chose the same option. Many argued that there was not enough time to complete work while maintaining a healthy relationship with one’s personal life and that the amount of stress and exhaustion that resulted from a six-day week was unsustainable. One residential faculty member believed that “[r]egularly having two full days off on the weekends would be helpful to relieve stress, promote mental and physical well-being and allow for fuller interactions with family and friends.” Others noted that religious events, family activities and planning in general were harder with such a full schedule, and felt that instead of having rotating weekends, an even better step would be to remove Saturday school completely.
Another reason the schedule was revised this year was to address issues that continually arose from early athletic dismissals. The early dismissals on Tuesdays and Thursdays, coupled with the reduced number of classes on Saturdays, were intended to reduce the amount of school students were missing. However, several students and faculty reported that there was still a significant number of absences even with the new schedule.
Despite these concerns, many respondents also noted that, without Saturday classes, the school year would extend well into the month of June and cited the ability to have longer seasonal breaks as a major advantage of incorporating Saturday classes. Some also view it as a core part of the Peddie experience, with one survey user saying, “I have always felt [holding Saturday school] set this school apart from public school. […] This is an institution of I think advanced learning, and is preached to the students how much work there is and the dedication they need to apply to their studies.”
Consequently, more than half of survey respondents agreed that, in some capacity, Saturday school was a valuable part of Peddie’s schedule. 45% and 54% of boarding and commuting faculty/staff, as well as 32% and 43% of boarding and commuting students, chose biweekly Saturday classes, with several expressing that they felt the option provided a happy medium between the opposing rationales.
Overall, students, faculty and staff alike were all able to pinpoint both pros and cons of the new schedule. Numerous elements have proven to be mutually exclusive, whether it is foregoing simplicity to create more breathing room in daily agendas or maintaining some Saturday classes to facilitate an earlier end to the academic year. While the new schedule is by no means perfect, many viewed the changes that were implemented as a step in the right direction and appreciated the balance that they established.
The truth is, perfection does not exist. Life is full of compromises, and Peddie’s new schedule once again proves this to be true. Hopefully, as the school year progresses, members of the Peddie community will become more and more acclimated to the new normal and develop strategies and routines to take full advantage of what the schedule has to offer. All things considered, these changes have immense potential to improve the Peddie experience for students and faculty alike, as long as they are willing to embrace change and work to achieve balance throughout different areas of their lives.
Thank you for tuning into The Peddie Poll! The Peddie Poll is dedicated to providing accurate reflections of student interests on a wide variety of relevant topics. We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, input and participation! Be sure to look out for more polls and articles featured in future issues of The Peddie News.
About the Survey
This survey was conducted through Google Forms and had a total of 101 distinct responses. There were 58 responses from residential members of the community and 43 responses from individuals who live off-campus, and a roughly 2:1 student-faculty/staff response ratio. The survey followed an open-response format and utilized multiple choice selection to facilitate ease of graph depiction. This limitation of response options, as well as the fact that the topics of questions occasionally overlapped, may have influenced survey results. All direct quotes were used with explicit permission from the person quoted.
