While the new eight-period day will make time for students to include more activities in their schedules, it will eliminate iDay, the independent work day for world language students, scheduled on intermittent Wednesdays throughout the year.

Originally, iDay was created to give world language students a day to work on projects independently. “We wanted to come up with a day to meet [students’] individualized needs. In theory, it was a day for working at an independent rate,” said Ms. Mary Murray, a Spanish teacher.

The goal of iDay was more than just having students learn at an independent rate, it aimed at preparing them for the future. “We were really looking at the college model––what do you do when you don’t have school eight hours a day. We wanted to teach students to manage their time and their work load,” said Ms. Murray.

This day will no longer occur next year, as the new BSM hour will take the place of iDay. “Because of the change in schedule, everybody will get the BSM hour, which encompasses iDay for everybody. If we kept iDay, it would be redundant,” said Murray.