One of the easiest parts of my job is to come up with a daily schedule that will be agreeable to everyone and satisfy each person's individual preferences. Actually, I'm just being facetious. The truth of the matter is the perfect daily schedule doesn't exist. If you ask 100 teachers what kind of daily schedule they would like to see, chances are good you will get nearly 100 different responses. Some folks like shorter classes. Some folks like longer classes. Some want to see their students every day, and others think it's best if they have at least one day a week where they don't see every student they teach. Some folks like to see their students at different times of the day, and some folks prefer that a class meets at the same time every day for consistency. One thing I hope we can all agree on is that no matter what your preferences for a daily schedule are, we know you have those preferences because you truly believe it's what is best for students. Sometimes we just disagree over what that is exactly.

Now, some of you may have noticed that our school year is a little shorter this year than it has been traditionally. By law, all public school units (PSUs), which includes charter schools, must go to school for either 185 days or have 1,025 contact hours. To be clear, a contact hour means you have to be in a class of some sort. In past years, we have used the 185-day calendar, but this year we are using a 1,025 contact hour calendar, which is what is predominately used by both traditional public and charter schools. Mathematically speaking, if you have fewer than six contact hours on a typical day, you might as well use the 185-day calendar. For example, if our current school day had only five contact hours instead of six, then you have to go to school for 205 days in order to meet the 1,025 hour threshold. I'm guessing this would not have been a very popular calendar. In putting together the daily schedule we have this year, teacher input was sought and the daily schedules of several other like-minded (i.e. college preparatory) charter schools were examined.

We have certainly received a great deal of feedback on this year's daily schedule, and, based on that feedback, the decision was made to once again revamp our daily schedule and return to a 185-day calendar. Thus, you may have already noticed that we finish after Memorial Day next year instead of before it like we do this year, but our daily contact hours are less than they are currently. This has been a month's long process that has included working with both a Teacher and Student Advisory Committee. I know that it is far from a perfect schedule, but it represents our best effort to meet the needs of the majority of staff and students. The schedule is posted below and will be posted on our website soon. If you have questions regarding the daily schedule, please feel free to ask them here, and I will post a FAQ in my next Principal Thoughts. We certainly appreciate your patience and support as we have worked through this process.

The yearbook staff will be raffling off an iPad in order to raise money to cover the costs of this year's yearbook. To enter the raffle, you will need to buy a ticket from the yearbook staff at lunch. Tickets will be sold at both lunches from Monday, March 27-Thursday, April 6. Tickets will be $5! The winner will be announced on Thursday, April 6 during the afternoon announcements!

This week's Knight of the Week is Addy Carter. One of Addy's teachers wrote,

"Addy G is one of the most responsible students I have taught. She is very conscientious about doing her work and always lets me know when she is going to be out. She completes all assignments on time and goes above and beyond in her assignments. Addy G is one of the hardest workers I have seen as a student, and she is also dependable and respectful."

Way to go, Addy G!

Backrow: Miriam Mata, Max Foote, Kensi Bell, Connor Conforti, Andy McLeod, Colby Vullo

Front Row: Lucas Starnes, Connor Towns

Congratulations to all, and a special recognition for Connor Conforti, who was selected to the All-State Team!

Pictured Left to Right: Matayah Grubbs, Grace Peterson, Ritika Ravikumar, Olivia Marcoccia, Kinley Burleson, Amy Gonzalez Hernandez, Donovan Tucker, Hunter Josey, Bladen Goodman, Albert Saysombath

Great job, everyone, and a special recognition to Ritika Ravikumar who was selected as Best Attorney and Best Witness!

Next week, Thursday and Friday will be extended period days. We will follow an alternate schedule on these days. On Thursday, students will attend their 1st-4th periods for 90 minutes with dismissal at 3:20. On Friday, students will attend 5th and 6th periods for 90 minutes with a 30-minute Advisory period in between. Friday will be a half-day for students with dismissal occurring at 12:05. For a detailed bell schedule of these days, please click here. Our next and final Extended Period Days will be Thursday, April 27 and Friday, April 28.

We need volunteers in our Spirit Shack! Sign up here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0c49a8a829a2fd0-2223/122245507#/