Lawmakers concerned with bell schedule changes

by Krystal Paco

Guam - From getting enough night's sleep to the amount of instructional minutes, lawmakers are concerned recent changes the Southern High School bell schedule will negatively impact student performance.

At last night's oversight hearing, DOE superintendent Jon Fernandez reported otherwise adding that the new schedule was a result of shared buses for southern schools.

"What we got in the before schedule, before the changes were made was the pickup of Southern High School students starting at 5:45 in the morning dropping them off between 6:30 and 7:15 for their 7:45 start 1830 pickup and dropoff at elementary schools in some cases were as late as 7:50 to 8 oclock and the elementary bell schedule is starting at 8:00," he said.

Meanwhile, DOE deputy superintendent Rob Malay says SHS students are getting sufficient instructional time, which is 80-minutes per block.

In addition, the school has shortened their lunch period and minimized idle time between classes by removing breaks.

As we previously reported, SHS now starts at 6:50 in the morning and dismisses at 1:20 p.m.