On October 6, several adjustments were announced to tweak the nightly routine of the new schedule. This endeavor was spearheaded by Mr. James Stanley, Dean of Students, in collaboration with a committee of faculty. Concerns had arisen among the faculty about some aspects of the new schedule, which were recently addressed in an email from Mr. Stanley to the whole school that explained the schedule changes.
Advisers will now begin dorm duty at the start of study hours, at 8:00 p.m., instead of 7:30 p.m. Last year, with the older schedule, advisers were on duty at the start of study hours at 7:30 p.m. When creating the new schedule, it was decided that faculty should arrive at the dorm at 7:30 p.m., even though study hours wouldn’t start for another half hour. The idea was that faculty would be in the dorms and available for extra help. But students were not frequently using this time for extra help. In addition, with classes and sports pushed to end later in the day, faculty have found that they have less time to spend with their family before having to be on duty. This especially pertains to in-house advisers. Mr. Deron Chang commented, “The main concern was that it seemed like we were not really using that half hour time from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. in a constructive way. It was time we could have been using to be with our families, read to our children, and have a more leisurely dinner with our kids.” The exception to this rule is Saturday, as advisers will be required to be in the dorms for early check-in at 7:30 p.m.
The second adjustment is that curfew is extended to 9:30 p.m. for all students. Previously, third, fourth, and fifth form boarders were required to check into their dorms at 9:00 p.m., while sixth formers could check-in at 9:30 p.m. However, this only left students an hour and a half for extra help, whereas they had two hours with last year’s schedule. In addition, it is logistically easier for everyone to have the same curfew so that advisers can check everyone in at the same time and conduct dorm meetings afterwards.
Some dorms, such as Memorial House and Nichols, have a slightly different evening schedule. The two dorms officially commence study hours at 8:00 p.m. as usual. However, Nichols takes a study break from 9:15 to 9:45 p.m. in the dorm, while Memorial takes one from 9:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. This break allows freshmen to shower, socialize, and have mug nights.
Creating an entirely new schedule is a difficult task, as many factors are involved. However, these small yet important new adjustments should make this transition easier for the students and especially the faculty as the community progresses through the school year. Faculty at Choate have a packed day with commitments like classes, coaching, and dorm duty, along with being available for their students during conference and designated extra help times.Most faculty only get an hour and a half to spend with their families before they rush off to the dorms. With these new adjustments, dorm life in general should be made easier.
