On the first day of school next year, students may be informed there is a block schedule with late arrival every single week. Lips may begin to quirk into smiles—until teachers reveal the catch.

With a schedule proposed by a inter-school committee, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, students would get out at 3:10 p.m., and only on Thursday would students get out at 2:30 p.m.

The potential shift is positive, with more time spent in the classroom and an easier format as a whole for both students and teachers, according to sophomore Natalie Adams-Menendez.

“I think students would very much appreciate it because it gives them a relief between Wednesdays and Thursdays to get a lot of homework done,” Adams-Menendez said. “It also gives them longer periods for testing, so you’re able to do more and be more comfortable with the time you’re given.”

A series of surveys given by the administration at Free State in May 2013 highlighted the issues students, parents and faculty members had with the current schedule, prompting a change.

“We … found out [from the surveys] the students would really like some more built-in study time, if possible; the teachers were hoping to somehow have a less hectic day, maybe have a second plan; and the parents, they wanted to have a consistent schedule every week,” said Ben Mellen, business teacher and scheduling committee member. “We were given the charge to come up with a consistent schedule to try to solve those issues.”

Last year, Free State formed a committee of faculty volunteers to propose an alternative schedule, but hit a snag when negotiating that schedule for both high schools. District administration and the Lawrence Education Association postponed a change until a committee of Free State AND Lawrence High faculty members could be consulted.

According to Mellen, the two high schools have different needs. Lawrence High struggles with small classrooms, whereas Free State doesn’t have enough rooms. Many Free State teachers must switch classrooms during the day, making it hard to get anything done during their plan period since they are constantly moving.

“We are trying to figure out a way to give both buildings some flexibility, let them do their own thing, let us do our own thing and still meet all these other requirements,” Mellen said.

In addition to meeting the needs of both high schools the committee was asked to make sure any new schedule would also work for the College and Career Center (C3) opening in fall 2015.

“One goal was to arrange the schedule so that students and staff could get to and from the college and career building, because that’s going to be a third campus now essentially,” said Sam Rabiola, English teacher and scheduling committee member.

The C3 opening next year will give juniors and seniors the option to be bussed from their high school to the center for half the day. According to Mellen, it is not a question of if or when a new schedule will be implemented, but how.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Mellen said. “The board has basically said that all the schedules need to be consistent because of the new building and the bussing.”

The schedule committee has run into issues fulfilling all the different desires teachers, parents, students and the school district have.

“It’s more ranking of what’s more important, what can we do,” Rabiola said. “Part of it, certainly, unfortunately, is what can we afford to do next year.”

The schedule affects minutes in the day, and, therefore, the time teachers are being paid to be at school. Largely due to the money aspect of the schedule, it will have to be sent back to the district/ LEA negotiations team. Negotiations could go through the summer, and teachers, as well as students, may not know what the official schedule will look for a while.

“We might recommend A, and it might come back looking like Q,” Rabiola said.

The prospect of a new schedule has brought many responses, though many students are not opposed to the idea.

“People have one of two responses, they focus on those elements that they like, or they focus on those elements they don’t like,” Rabiola said. “What our committee tries to do is look at the big picture. We get the two ends, and not much about the middle.”

Junior Santiago Martinez focused on the plus side of having late arrival every week, which would allow him to drop by Starbucks for a Frappucino before school. For junior Mary Krieger, while the new schedule may be difficult at first, students will adjust.

“At first I’d probably be like, ‘Oh this sucks,’ but I don’t think I would notice that much honestly, after it started,” Krieger said. “You’d just get used to it.”