As Stamford High prepares to roll out a brand new schedule next year, students are sounding the alarm loudly. The upcoming change, which replaces the traditional A-Day/B-Day system with a more rigid block-style structure, is being advertised as a step forward. But when the students, the people most affected, were finally asked how they felt, the overwhelming response was clear: almost no one wants it.
Despite how deeply this change will impact the school day, many students feel their voices have been completely ignored in the process. To find out how the student body actually feels, I decided to distribute a survey. Sixty students across all four grades responded. They were asked for their grade level and whether they believed the new schedule would benefit them. The result? 86.7% said no. Only 13.3% said yes. The majority of the responses came from juniors (32), followed by sophomores (11), freshmen (9) and seniors (8), representing a wide range of students from every corner of the school.
Beyond the numbers, there was an optional comments section in the survey where the responses spoke volumes. Some students approached the issue analytically, expressing concern about academic consistency and even learning retention. One student wrote, “Well one I’m not gonna be here but also THANK GOD. This schedule seems like hell. It has a lack of consistency and as someone with ADHD I need consistency. Kids have been shown to learn best through repeated practice. That is why we have homework. I would like to present a example. You take English for the first half of the year. At the end of the year your required to take a standardized test on English. Think the SAT or a Lexile exam. But without continuous practice students will naturally forget everything they have learned.”
Another student echoed a similar concern, saying, “It would be easier to forget things after the semester.” Others added, “It’s horrible they are overcomplicated and people will lose understanding of each class,” and “It’s going to mess up everyone’s learning.”
Mental health was another major theme. Many students expressed worry over the stress that the new system could create. The removal of the A/B day format, which gave students breathing room and consistency, was a key concern. One student wrote “I think it will hurt my grades. I feel like I will be overstimulated with all the work from many different classes.” Another pointed out how overwhelming this will be for those with packed schedules: “As an athlete having classes every day can be hard because sometimes I don’t have enough time to get work done.”
Some students didn’t hold back their frustration, “Stop changing the g—–m schedule.” Another said simply: “They’re dumb for doing this.” While blunt, these reactions reflect a deep sense of exhaustion among students who feel the system keeps changing without clear benefit.
Students also voiced frustration about how this will impact college readiness and access to important electives. One person shared, “I won’t be able to take major-related extracurriculars my senior year as they will not align with my IB schedule. A school schedule shouldn’t inhibit learning.”
But perhaps the most revealing comments were about the teachers themselves. “It’s not helpful to anyone, even the teachers don’t agree with it,” one student noted. It’s clear to students that many of their teachers are frustrated, and at one point, even emails from the principals at Stamford High and Westhill suggested there were concerns about how the schedule would affect the school community. Even though those issues have reportedly been addressed, it’s clear that students felt the stress and confusion. If both students and staff were nervous about it at first, we should seriously think about why this new schedule is still happening without everyone’s support, especially from the people who will have to adjust their whole routine around it.
It’s not that no one had anything positive to say. One student pointed out, “I prefer getting more credits per year so I can take as few classes as possible in my senior year. The extra ‘workload’ is nothing to me.” Another said, “I would be able to have more free time to complete work with my schedule and hopefully finish my learning journey early.” But these voices were in the minority.
Most students just want consistency and a school system that listens. We want to be heard, not pushed aside for what feels like another top-down decision that serves the district more than it serves the students. Another comment read, “This schedule is only making new problems and not addressing the ones that already exist”.
There is still time for those in power to reconsider. Students are not asking for perfection. They are asking for a chance to succeed. This schedule might look good in a spreadsheet, but in practice, it’s creating stress, confusion, and division. For the sake of the students, let’s hope someone finally listens.