Masuk High School has adopted a new hybrid schedule for the 2025–26 school year, combining the old straight eight with the previous four-period block.
This new hybrid schedule can be quite confusing at times; however, that is not the main concern of the Masuk students. Extra homework and conflicts with extracurriculars were other concerns students had.
Masuk junior Noah Comacho shared, “I’m pretty tired when I get home from school, and then I have hockey practice and work on top of that. So with all this homework and all this work during school, I think together it’s just a lot of fatigue building up.”
Although there appears to be a lot of negativity toward this schedule, some students are optimistic about the new change.
“I think it’s better than the old schedule because I get to see my teachers every day, and I am actually productive with my time instead of wasting it during long periods,” said junior Genevieve Lau.
Lau is expressing a common issue that various other students share, describing how they would get distracted, bored and even lose their drive to complete work over longer periods due to sitting in a classroom for over an hour straight.
During the first week or so of the school year, students have had many complaints about this new schedule; however, what do the administrators at Masuk think about this big change?
Vice Principal Ian Lowell is very passionate about this new schedule; nonetheless, he claims that he understands the complaints many students have. He explained, “Last year, if you had a class on Tuesday and Thursday and you or your teacher were out one of those days, then you only saw that teacher one day of the week, and that is not nearly frequent enough. The other problem with the old schedule was how the 75 minute periods every day kind of got too long for students to, you know, remain focused during the whole school day. Now with the new schedule, you have that mix of the old block days and the straight eight days so that you can have the perfect frequency of seeing your teachers and those longer block days for the longer intensive lessons.”
Lowell added that the administrators have “spoken with teachers about managing the amount of homework they give on those eight-period days. I understand it can be challenging for students, specifically ones who are adjusting to high school or kids who participate in extracurricular activities.”
Lowell’s understanding of issues that students face may give them optimism and hope that this new schedule won’t be so bad in the long run. Lowell emphasizes that the hybrid schedule was carefully designed, combining the best aspects of both schedules, maximizing student engagement and learning opportunities.
After a month and a half, the Masuk High School community has changed its harsh opinion on this new schedule. During the first half of quarter one, Masuk students despised the new schedule, yet after the month and a half that’s gone by, most students have a totally different perspective on this new schedule.
During the first week, Noah Comacho claimed that he didn’t like the new schedule because it had made him feel overwhelmed by the amount of homework he had been getting; nevertheless, Comacho had fallen victim to the common misconception that the new schedule would not be beneficial to students.
Comacho now realizes that the schedule is very helpful with his academics. “Now that we’ve settled into the school year, I’m starting to like this new schedule, although the block days are starting to feel really long. I like the mix of the two,” said Comacho. This shared opinion across the school emphasizes how switching back and forth between the two days can make the longer class periods feel very long.
Comacho adds how his “grades have been through the roof lately, I’ve been doing so much better in almost all my classes this year, and I think it’s because I get to see all my teachers pretty much every day, which is much better than last year when I barely got to see them.”
As the school year continues, both students and teachers are still adjusting to the changes. While opinions may differ, many agree that the hybrid schedule has the potential to make learning at Masuk more engaging and effective in the long run.
“Change is always difficult at the beginning, but I think the new schedule is helping me stay organized and focused,” said junior Isabella Bahamon. “It’s just gonna take some time to get used to.”
With students slowly embracing the new rhythm and teachers adapting their lessons, the hybrid schedule might just be one of Masuk’s most successful changes in the school system yet.
Only time will tell if this new structure becomes a lasting part of Masuk’s tradition.
Masuk Free Press 
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