When we return to classes on Thursday, August 12th, it will have been 516 days since we've met in a somewhat "normal" school setting. A lot has changed in our world, but Beckman is still an amazing place to be. You'll notice that some things have changed and some things remain the same, but rest assured the changes you see and the changes you don't see are all to make Beckman a better place for our students.

On Thursday, August 12th, students will have their first day of school! Students will report to their first period class based on the schedule they see in Aeries (under Classes). We will be on a modified schedule with 15 minute passing periods to allow plenty of time between classes to navigate the campus, meet old teachers, see old friends and slow the pace of the school day. Students who have a zero period will report to their zero period class. All class info will be released with teachers, room, order, etc. SOON!!!

Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, Beckman High School will be adjusting the Bell Schedule to meet the requirements set forth by California SB 328. The law which was signed two years ago says that high schools can start their regular program no earlier than 8:30 am. While making this shift, we will also be redesigning our Wednesday and tutorial schedule to align with feedback received from teachers, students, and parents.

Here is the link to our bell schedules this year.

The schedules were designed with feedback from staff members, students, and parents. We had several things in mind when designing the schedule. Here are just a few:
1) Starting later to meet the requirements of SB 328.
2) Creating a Wednesday that “felt” similar to the break in the week we had in the hybrid model.
3) Creating a schedule that is simple, consistent, and easy to follow.
4) In case there are additional COVID related shifts, the schedule needs to be adaptable to Distance Learning if the need arises.
5) Creating time for teachers to reteach, review, and provide enrichment activities.

Wednesday will be a time for practice, review, enrichment, class workshops and course specific seminars. There will be no new assessments and no new content delivered. Teachers may use the time for things, such as reteaching, reviewing, providing practice, providing enrichment, independent work time, or a number of other helpful activities. We will also integrate a CCR and a CCE component to allow for delivery of additional College and Career lessons, as well as, time for students to choose a class to attend for extra help (CCE). CCR stands for “College and Career Readiness” and will include content on College Readiness, Social-Emotional topics, and other counseling related topics. Students will be assigned to a grade level CCR section that will meet on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. On these days students will report to an assigned class and teacher. Then, for the alternating Wednesdays that will meet on the 2nd and 4th week of each, we will utilize CCE (Choice Course Enrichment). During CCE sessions, students will choose and sign-up for one of their 6 classes to attend for extra help.

“If you had sort of a magic pill that you could take that would help increase your mental health, increase your physical health, lower your stress, make you more efficient… most people would be itching for a dose. Well, we do have that magic pill. It’s called sleep.”

Denise Pope – Challenge Success

Parents and students,

Our partnership over the last 4 years with the Challenge Success team at Stanford has led to many positive changes here on campus. Recently Denise Pope (Challenge Success founder), contributed to this article on the impacts of sleep on mental health. PLEASE take a moment to read this brief article as it contains helpful information for parents to help address teen sleep loss. At Beckman, we are trying to address the lack of sleep by working to reduce workload, addressing course overload, and adjusting our bell schedule. There is still more work to be done, but we need your help.

The last 18 months have been extremely difficult for everyone. The pandemic has left an indelible mark on communities across the world and ours is no exception. When we return to school in the fall, we expect there to be some excitement, some nerves, and some fear as well. We know that our students struggled during remote learning and as a result, we know many of our students will be coming to us with intensified mental health concerns. As this article points out, SLEEP is extremely important and will be extremely important as we move forward this year.