Advisory schedule changes, new adjustments have mixed reactions

~ theraiderpress
Photo by Julissa Flores ’25: Students working on work during the advisory period.

By Julissa Flores ’25

Changes have been made to the Derby High School schedule this year, moving advisory from 7:30am to between periods 3 and 4.

From an administrative point of view, advisory was moved to give kids a break in the middle of the day instead of going from class to class without one. Also, when there are special meetings or assemblies, advisory allows for flexibility. 

Students were used to having advisory before period 1 to be able to come to school later if need be. Cassie Silkoff ‘25 says, “ I’m a bit of a late riser, so it’s kind of nice to have something to fall back on if I’m going to be like three to five, sometimes 10, minutes late and I’m not missing out on instructive class time or any material that I need to know for classes.” Assistant Principal Ray Coplin states, “Advisory is multipurpose. It doesn’t serve as a study hall, but what it does do is provide a little bit of a break in the day from the instructional day for students. So it is very much student-centered and focused.”

With advisory in the morning, it did give students and teachers time to decompress and relax before the day started. Social Studies teacher Spenser Butterworth states, “I think the biggest pro of having advisory first thing in the morning was it was kind of a settling period for both teachers and students.” Butterworth also says, “It allowed me to get my daily agendas ready, make copies if I needed to, and kind of generally prep for my next 7 classes.”

 It has been a recurring idea that since advisory is in the middle of the day, clubs should make a reappearance. Onestii Gains ‘25 says, “I think they should bring back clubs because they were really fun. Jashawn Daniels ‘25 also says, “I think they should bring clubs back, at least give us some activities to do.” Clubs are now making a reappearance which will be during the advisory periods every Thursday. 

Advisory has been moved to between period 3 and period 4 to avoid tardiness. Since advisory was before Period 1, kids wouldn’t come to school until 8:00am making them late for Period 1. Moving advisory decreases the amount of tardies because it is now in the middle of the day. Three tardies equals one absence, in a full-year class more than 20 absences makes a student fail the class, and in a half year, it’s 10 absences.