Morning Meeting, homeroom, and advisory. A time to stockpile cans for the NHS food drive or run to a quick guidance meeting. A time to scribble out the answers to the homework you forgot was assigned or snapchat the friend down the hall that’s just as bored as you are. A time to pledge allegiance and give birthday wishes, listen to the morning announcements, swagger into the school after senior lounge, or go see a teacher because you just don’t understand why you got question four wrong.

    Lunchtime: A time to socialize with your friends if they’re lucky enough to have the same lunch as you and receive nourishment to get you through the grueling six and a half hours of polynomials, literary devices and lab quizzes. A time to go to the library and get a start on the three feet of homework you have due tomorrow or hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before your football game. A time to eat, relax, joke, talk, and have fun.

    As the school year rolled in this September, Ledyard students did a double-take when they realized that the long tradition of morning meeting, the six minute homeroom period between blocks two and three, had been removed and replaced with a short announcement, pledge- of- allegiance time at the start of block two, and an extra five minutes to lunch. The lunch period had long been a cause of dissent at Ledyard. Indignant teachers complained nonstop about the students who brought their lunch trays to class because they didn’t have enough time to eat after waiting in line for fifteen minutes just to buy their food. Getting rid of unnecessary morning meeting should placate teachers and students alike. However, opinions on whether this time is better spent in lunch or morning meeting vary.

    Biology teacher David Bednarz has been an advocate for students who didn’t have enough time to finish eating lunch. “I can now eat an entire third sandwich in the extra five minute,” Bednarz said.

    “I think the new schedule is nice,” junior Christian Kuss said. “We now have more time in class instead of wasting the time sitting around in morning meeting. The extra five minutes in lunch is also nice because it gives us that little extra time to socialize.” This isn’t the only thought circulating the student body.

    “I wish there was morning meeting everyday still,” sophomore Julia Paul said. “I like having that little break in the morning.” Not all students are in agreement with Kuss. Some just want the time to relax between classes, while others utilized the times for more productive ventures.

    “I used to use morning meeting to go to guidance or talk to a teacher,” senior Allie Konrad said. “Homeroom was a time to go do something.” Not all schoolwork is confined to the activities and tasks covered in classes. Seniors especially need to speak to their guidance counselors about senior meetings, as Konrad pointed out, or pick up their senior brag sheet. If a student, such as Konrad, needed to pick up a missed assignment, or speak to a club advisor, a coach or a music director, morning meeting was the perfect time to do so. Without it, students are forced to rush around between classes, or stay after school. “I needed to reschedule my meeting with my guidance counselor,” Konrad said. “But I couldn’t go during morning meeting to do that, so I just missed my appointment.”

    In the past, Ledyard has been notorious for getting new schedules, and changing schedules, and playing around with times. Four years ago, the high school had a schedule similar to college where all “A day” classes took place first semester and all “B day” classes took place second semester, meeting every day. Then three years ago the administration scrapped that and began the regular block scheduling used to day with one discrepancy: on Mondays there were eight blocks and students attended all of their classes. Whether or not this new schedule will be in effect long, despite student opinion, remains to be seen.

Alex Houdeshell, The Horizons Yearbook Assistant Editor in Chief