As the new school year approaches, there has been talk of the school day ending earlier next year. This is a true fact, as the school day will be ending roughly 30 minutes earlier for next school year as opposed to the 2:40 that students are used to. When Principal Sean Tomany was asked why the day was shortened, he said, “I think it was to make Hartford more appealing for new teachers. Would a new teacher want to get out at 2:15 or 3:00?”

Many students have worried that the change to the schedule would mean that activity block is at risk of not happening anymore. Principal Tomany has had some thoughts when it comes to the new schedule, saying, “Activity block was the best thing I came up with by accident. We needed to make the day a bit longer a couple of years ago and so we came up with a period and just didn’t tell students where to go.”

 When current freshman Isabella Sorvillo ‘28 was asked about her thoughts, she said, “I feel that a shorter day would mean shorter classes, and so kids might stay interested for longer; but it could also work against the school where teachers are trying to shove too much work into a class period.” Many other students have agreed with this worrying that the workload will be too much for shorter classes.

There is a lot of hope for this new schedule for upcoming school years, but it is safe to say that activity block will be sticking around. We can only wait and see how this schedule works out for UHSSE.