Since coming back from the pandemic in 2021 East Meck has added a fifth lunch period and shortened the transition time from eight minutes to seven. The result is students barely having any time to breath before being herded into the next hour and a half long class.

   This isn’t exclusive to East either. Every high school in CMS has had to tighten their schedule like this to some extent. All because the CMS Board of Education requires its schools to have classes that are at least 85 minutes long.

   With COVID being piled on top of the other requirements from CMS and the state, this one rule has almost single handedly forced schools to gouge out even the tiniest bit of down time just to stay in compliance. But the effects this is having on students simply cannot be justified.     

   Numerous studies such as the one conducted by the National Institute of Health in 2021 show that taking short, meaningful breaks helps the brain retain information better as well as feel revitalized and renew focus. However the 85 minute requirement makes it way too hard for these breaks to be implemented.

 If CMS would stop being so strict about the time students spend in class, then individual schools could focus more on building schedules that better facilitate learning and less on trying to meet a number goal. For instance, there are plenty of schools outside of CMS that have eight 45 minute classes a day and have students keep the same classes the whole year to make up for the time. 

While more classes may sound like more stress, because each one is so short, administrators have more room to manipulate the schedule to allow for longer transition periods and lunches. Times like these where students can socialize and not think about school are important for managing their mental health. Cutting that time short means making students feel worse in the long run and limiting how well they could do if they just had a little more time to feel happy while in school.

   If 45 minutes sounds too drastic, then class time could be decreased by just a little instead. Many have shown support for classes at East to go from 90 minutes to 80. The main reason has to do with branding. As switching to 80 minute classes would make the school’s signature 495 (4 periods, 90 minutes, 5 days a week) become 485, which is the Charlotte beltway.

   However even something as simple as this could do wonders for giving students a bit of downtime. Ten minutes being removed from every class would mean a total of 40 extra minutes that could be distributed throughout the school day. It could be more or less depending on the school, but even giving a bit of that time back to students would be a huge step in the right direction. CMS would barely even have to change its requirement. Just decreasing it slightly would be enough to let this change be possible.

   All of this isn’t to say that there are no merits to 90 minute classes. Many students enjoy having extra time to do their work and receive instruction. However there are also those who struggle to focus for such long stretches of time back to back every day. 

   According to a 2020 article from Harvard Health Publishing, the average attention span can fall anywhere from 10 to 52 minutes. This particular study also looked at workplaces as well as classrooms, which goes to show that even adults with a fully developed brain wouldn’t be able to concentrate fully with the current 85 to 90 minute model. Especially with it having such sparse breaks. And with the average attention span shrinking due to the rise of short form content, this struggle is only going to become more pronounced as time goes on.

   Instead of using a system that only benefits the most hyper focused people, shortening class time and extending down time could let students personalize their learning experience. To this end, CMS could also consider implementing flex time to give students an opportunity to go talk to teachers or do work in the middle of the school day.

 85 and 90 minute classes make this near impossible. With how early CMS schools have to start, a lot of people can’t talk with their teachers in the morning and bus riders have no hope of speaking with them in the afternoon. Flex time could also give more people the ability to join clubs and get tutoring since those opportunities wouldn’t have to be limited to afterschool.

   More downtime isn’t just a luxury. It has a tangible, positive impact on student learning. As long as CMS keeps forcing schools to tighten their grip on the time students have to themselves, even the best and brightest will struggle to reach their full potential. There are enough rules and requirements in place already. In just this one critical aspect, CMS can afford to give its schools a break.